A Mogma By Any Other Name
by Saria Skye
Summary: A human girl suddenly finds herself stuck living in a camp full of Mole like creatures called Mogmas, and now it's a question of adapting to survive. It's not exactly what she had in mind for her life, but might not be the end of the world either.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi all! So, this isn't the first story that I've ever written, but it is the first one I've ever posted. Hopefully it won't be the last. I welcome any kinds of comments. I've found in my experience not to be afraid of flames, because truth be told, probably not many people are even going to care enough to post a comment, let alone take the time to read this. So sure, flame away if you don't like it. I'll just be happy to see evidence that people are reading my stuff!**

**Mogmas and all LOZ places and things are the property of Nintendo blah blah blah. All I own are my OCs and my ideas for the Mogma's home. I hope you enjoy!  
**

This is a story from long ago, when humans used to live at the base of Eldin volcano. Back then the people didn't know the volcano was still active. It was just the ideal place for farmers to live. The fertile volcanic soil was ideal for growing the best of crops, and raising many kinds of livestock. They were known far and wide for producing the best food and milk around. They were a peaceful people, and lived happily – for a time. This is the story of the unforeseen disaster that befell them, and of the one girl who survived.

Cressa's morning started out like any other. She arose before the sun - like always, milked the cows - like always, and fed the cucco's - like always. Such was her routine every morning for as long as she could remember. Just like all other farm children, she was required to help with the chores once she was old enough, and these were just a few of them that her parents had assigned to her.

She really didn't mind the chores. Cressa knew how important it was to help out around the farm, for the sake of her's and her family's livelihood. However, she also knew that her little brother was almost old enough to start helping out as well, and she would be lying if she said she wasn't looking forward to that.

After Cressa had finish spreading out all the feed for the cuccos, she wrapped up the sack she was carrying and headed back into the house to help her mother finish breakfast. Like always, she though with a roll of her deep onyx eyes and a toss of her curly, raven hair. It's not that she was unhappy with her life, but sometimes she just wished there was a little more excitement in it. She thought it would be nice to have a change from the old boring routine now and again.

"Cressa, could you please get the bread out of the oven for me? I think it's just about done." Her mother told her as she came into the kitchen. She was already busy frying eggs, and didn't want to have them burn.

"Yes ma'am," Cressa replied and picked up a couple of towels before opening the oven and removing the hot stone platter with her mother's freshly baked bread. She inhaled the aromas wafting from the bread with pleasure, before setting it on top of the oven to cool. People in the village would brag that her mother made the best bread in the whole world, and her family tended to agree with them. It was one of Cressa's favorite times of day. When the sun was just peaking up over the horizon and she had the pleasure of having breakfast with her family, eating her mother's famous bread with homemade butter.

It must have been this aroma that roused her little brother from bed, because only a couple minutes later he came toddling around the corner, yawning and rubbing his eyes with sleepiness.

"Is breakfast ready yet?" he mumbled as he slid into his seat at the table.

"Almost, now Thomas before you get too comfortable, why don't you help your sister set the table before your father comes in?" her mother suggested.

Thomas groaned his displeasure, but arose non-the-less. "Yes ma'am," he answered and grabbed a stack of plates from the cupboard. It was clear that Thomas was not going to enjoy getting up early to do chores as much as his sister.

They had almost finished setting the table when their father strode into the room. "Mmmmmm, smells good in here!" he bellowed and pulled off his heavy boots with a thud.

Their mother smiled at him. "You say that every morning dear," she reminded him.

"Ah yes, and yet every morning it is as true as the last," he grinned and ambled over to his wife, giving her a tender kiss on the side of her head. Thomas made a face, but it made Cressa smile.

Her father was a very large man that dwarfed his wife, and yet he always tried to be as gentle and considerate of her as possible. He was generally a pretty jolly and easygoing man, and tended to let the misdeeds of his children slide rather than discipline them, as the other townsfolk felt he should. While it wouldn't have hurt Thomas to receive some extra correction, Cressa was her father's precious jewel and he would retaliate saying that she could not have turned out more perfect.

Now Cressa knew she was far from perfect, but she did try her best to stay out of trouble and please her parents. Thomas on the other hand only became more mischievous with age. He took after his father in the sense that he was rather laid back, but he would rather play than work, which many people saw as a bad habit. Thomas also looked to have inherited his father's stature, for he was almost as tall as Cressa even though he was several years her junior.

Cressa on the other hand took after her mother. She was rather petite for her age, and for now only stood as tall as her mother's shoulders. She was hoping to grow a little taller as she got older, but for now it was hard to tell how much bigger she would get. Being short wasn't exactly a blessing when you lived on a farm.

"Well my love, instead of just complementing on the way the food smells, why don't you have a seat so we can all enjoy some breakfast," their mother suggested merrily.

"By gosh you're right! No sense standing around chatting while breakfast gets cold! Let's eat!" their father bellowed enthusiastically as he plopped himself down in his chair at the head of the table. Everyone else sat down around him as he grabbed a big loaf of bread and began to spread butter on it.

After breakfast was finished, Thomas went out with his father to watch and learn how he worked in the fields and with the livestock. Meanwhile, Cressa helped her mother put away the remaining food for later and gather up all the dirty dishes into a large basket. One of Cressa's other chores was to wash all of the dishes in the nearby spring after each meal. Living near a volcano meant that fresh water was not an abundant resource. Even so, the villagers did have access to several small springs that were located just outside and around the village.

When Cressa had all the dishes loaded into the basket, she hoisted it onto her back. And with a bar of homemade soap from her mother, she set out for the nearest spring.

As much as Cressa loved spending quality time with her family during meals, she also very much enjoyed the quiet, alone time she experienced when doing the dishes. At this time of day there would be no other people within at least a mile of the spring, and all she could hear was the gentle sound of flowing water and the soft chirping of the songbirds.

Cressa set her basket down right at the edge of the pool that the spring created as it came flowing out the side of the rock face. She pulled out a plate and the bar of soap and began scrubbing off the stuck on food. Then when she finished, she would set the dish on a rock in the sun to dry.

Even though she knew she was completely alone, there were times when Cressa was here doing dishes that the creepy feeling that she was being watched would shiver down her spine. Then she couldn't help but turn her head to look, only find the vast landscape staring back at her. She knew she was being silly, but the feeling was so overpowering that at times she couldn't help it.

She especially got the feeling when she would sing along with her scrubbing. Sometimes she would pretend it was a secret admirer watching her, but he was just too shy to let her see him. It made her laugh when she thought about it, such a ridiculous notion. However, she did very much enjoy singing while she worked, and so she began to sing one of her favorite songs. It was a song that her mother used to sing to her brother and her as a lullaby before they went to sleep.

(_To be sung to the tune of Zelda's lullaby)_

Goddess on high, please hear my plea

Bless my home, my children and me

Make my fields stay green and strong

And help the days be long

However, as she sang, little did she know that today was not going to be like other days. In fact no one could have sensed the imminent danger that they were all in as the magma below the volcano was about to reach it's rupture point!

No sooner had Cressa finished her song that the earth beneath her feet began to rumble in a very odd way. It began gently at first, and she looked around with a confused expression trying to find the source. After a minute the rumbling became much more intense. Cressa leapt to her feet and gawked around in shock as the dishes she had so carefully placed to dry were now leaping off their respective stones and crashing to the ground, shattering instantly.

She had never experienced anything like this, and she was very frightened as the ground's convulsing became so intense that she was having trouble keeping her balance. Then, when she thought things couldn't get any worse, she heard a deafening explosion, and looked up to her complete horror to see burning, red hot liquid gushing out of the top of the mountain that overshadowed her village. Rocks were raining down from above, and a black cloud of soot was darkening the sky.

Cressa didn't know what to do! She was scared out of her wits and felt completely helpless as all she could do was watch the flood of burning liquid slowing make its way toward her village. She had to warn the villagers, her family, she had to try to help! Cressa broke out into a run, doing her best to dodge the debris. Unfortunately she didn't make it far. The intense shaking of the earth got the better of her, and she tripped, her head banging against a large rock on the ground. The last thing she remembered seeing was the burning fluid just reaching the edge of village before she lost consciousness.

Maybe it was coincidence, or maybe destiny, who can say for sure? But Cressa _was_ lucky enough to have someone watching her that day. Someone she didn't even know existed, but who had been living just under her feet for even longer than the village had been there.

**Well, there's the first Chapter. I know not very long or exciting. The good stuff starts next Chapter. Please review if you feel like it! I know it would make me happy!**

**;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**So, here's Chapter 2. Just so you know, I get much of my inspiration from the _Redwall_ book series and from various Disney movies. So if something doesn't make sense, just think about what other famous published authors can get away with not making sense in their own books and stories, lol. Also, you can always just ask me to clarify something if you want. I'll be happy to respond.**

**Insert usual disclaimer here. Enjoy!  
**

"-keep that cold pack on her head-" … "-stop moving around so much-" … "-sure this is such a good idea, Kortz-"

Cressa was just making out voices around her. She didn't know if they were real, or if she was dreaming. The horrible throbbing in her head felt real enough and it made her wish that the voices would stop. She wanted to sink back into the darkness where the pain would go away.

"-what are we gonna do with her-"

As much as she was trying to ignore the talking, that last statement got her attention. What did they mean 'what are we gonna do with her'? Where was she anyway? Cressa did her best to try and remember, but her pounding head was making thinking difficult. With great reluctance, she attempted to open her eyes to find out where she was.

"Hey, hey! I think she's coming around," she heard.

Cressa slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was sort of hazy, but what she thought she saw was someone with a long, pointed nose smiling down at her. But that couldn't be possible! People didn't have long, pointed noses. She squinted up at – whatever it was – to try and get a better look. It didn't look like a person. It looked like an animal. Was she going crazy?

Then to her complete astonishment, it spoke! "Yo! How ya feeling?" it asked.

Cressa suddenly became completely aware. Her eyes popped open and she let out a yelp of surprise. She quickly realized this thing was holding her, and on impulse she struggled to get free. She must have surprised it too, because the thing dropped her. She hit the ground with a thud and scooted away from it until she backed into a wall. With eyes as big as dinner plates she frantically glanced around the room, her pain temporarily forgotten due to the rush of adrenaline.

She was in a dimly lit room that she guessed was a bedroom, due to the presence of a bed in the corner. It looked as if the room was made entirely of earth, and there was a large cloth hanging over the opening in place of a door. There were a total of four of the things in the room, and they were all staring at her. She had no idea how she got here, in fact she was having trouble remembering anything at this point. That must have something to do with the pain in her head, but she at least knew that she was human, and these things were definitely not!

"She's a bit jumpy don't ya think?" one of them asked.

"Yeah, and she's so weird looking, all hairless and skinny. You really sure you know what you're doing Kortz?" another one added. They were talking to the one that was originally holding her.

"Hey, come on guys, be nice," he told the other two.

They moved closer to get a better look at her. Cressa held her breath and froze as one of them stuck his nose right in her face and sniffed at her. This one had blonde hair and she could see that he had freckles dotting his nose and cheekbones. At least, she thought it was a 'he'. The thing then reached out and grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her away from the wall. She was about to struggle for all she was worth, but then she realized all he was doing was studying her hand.

"I mean, look at these hands. They're so small and frail. How's she supposed to do any work with these?" it asked skeptically.

Frail!? Cressa suddenly felt more offended then scared. "Hey-" she attempted to protest, but she was cut short when the other one grabbed her foot and pulled her onto her back. It was then she realized that she wasn't wearing any shoes. She couldn't even remember if she owned shoes!

"And she's got little feet too," the other one commented feeling her feet and poking at them. "They're so smooth. How is she gonna grip the ground?" he asked. Cressa was suddenly made very aware that she had rather sensitive feet. Because as this thing was messing with them she could feel bubbling laughter making its way up from her belly, and she couldn't hold it in.

She burst out laughing. "Wait a minute! S-stop it! That tickles!" she exclaimed through her laughing.

"Knock it off you two! You're overwhelming the poor girl." The one that had been holding her scolded the other two. That distracted them long enough for her to struggle free. She jumped to her feet and dashed around behind him. This one seemed to have her best interests in mind more or less, and she hoped he would offer a measure of protection from the other two. He turned to look at her and smiled with an amused expression.

"Where am I? How-how did I get here?" she demanded of them. They didn't get a chance to answer before a sharp, stabbing pain shot through her head. Cressa let out a cry and held her head in her hands. She couldn't believe how badly her head hurt. "Could someone please tell me what happened to me?" she asked, sounding upset.

The creatures, well now that she had gotten a better look at them, they looked to her like moles, giant talking moles. They all glanced around at each other. The one that had been holding her, he had red hair that came down into his face and covered his right eye, he answered her.

"You mean, you don't remember?" he asked.

"I-I-can't-" Cressa stared down at the floor concentrating, trying to remember _something_! But nothing would come, and the harder she tried, the worse her head would throb.

"Do you even know your name?" the other one asked. Cressa glanced up at him. This one had short brown hair and a dark mask of fir around his eyes.

"Uhhh," she stammered, wracking her brain. She knew she had to have a name! What was it? "Cr-Cressa," she managed. She was pretty certain that was her name. It sounded familiar at least.

"Well, what do you know? It has a name," the blonde one teased. Cressa glared at him.

"Alright, that's enough. Pressing her for questions is just going to make her headache worse. She needs to rest for a while before then," the fourth mole-creature in the room finally spoke up. This one seemed like a lady-mole to Cressa. She walked over to where Cressa was crouched and held out her paw-like hand.

"Come dearie; let's get you to the bed. You've taken a pretty nasty hit to the head and you need to lie down for a while. Kortz hand me the cold pack." She instructed. The lady-mole then helped Cressa up and over to the bed. She laid her down and put a bag of something cold on the side of her head where it hurt the most. She then took Cressa's hand and placed it over the bag. "Hold that there for a while. It will help with the pain." She said.

Cressa obeyed, her head hurt too much to argue, and these moles didn't seem like they were bad. They seemed like they were trying to help her, so what else could she do, really?

"Now then Kortz, since you're the one that brought her here, she's your responsibility. You need to stay here and watch over her. Make sure she doesn't fall asleep. I don't think I need to remind you of what may happen if she does," the lady-mole warned. That sounded a little worrisome. "As for the rest of you, out! The girl needs her rest." She lectured.

At that, the other two began protesting. "Awww, come on Ira! We wanna stay too! It's not fair only Kortz gets to stay!" things like that.

But she wouldn't hear of it, and proceeded to push them out the door. The cloth fell back down behind them and then there was silence.

Cressa watched as the one that was left pulled up a stool and sat down beside the bed. He just stared at her for a long moment, like he was studying her. She blinked back at him. The silence was starting to turn awkward, so she decided that now maybe she could get some questions answered.

"So," she began. "You're name is Kortz?" she asked hesitantly. His face brightened and he nodded. "And, you're the one that brought me here?" she added.

"That's right!" he told her.

"He totally saved your life!" she heard someone else exclaim, and the other two guys suddenly burst back into the room. Kortz turned and glared at them.

"Didn't Ira tell you two to get lost?" he asked.

"Come on Kortz, nothing exciting ever happens around here!" "Yeah, this is the first time we've ever seen a human up close," they chattered, as they came and sat down around the bed. Kortz let out a long sigh.

"Cressa, this is Bronzi and Ledd," Kortz told her, pointing to the blonde one, then the brown-haired one, respectively.

Cressa looked from one to the other and then slowly sat up, it felt too awkward lying down to carry on a conversation. "I hope I'm not being rude by asking this, but-" the three of them focused on her. "Where exactly is here? And, uh, what are you?" she ventured.

They grinned at each other before answering. "Why, you're in the underground camp of the Mogma tribe." Bronzi told her.

"Yeah, and we're the Mogmas!" Ledd added, which caused the other two to roll their eyes.

"Mogmas? Under. . . ground?" she asked sounding uncertain and glancing around the room once again. "I guess that makes sense," she decided.

"So, you're not scared of us?" Bronzi asked.

Cressa thought about that for a minute. She had been at first, but these guys didn't seem malicious, just curious. And they were trying to help her, so— "I don't think so, should I be. I mean you guys aren't going to eat me or anything like that are you?" Now that she thought about it, maybe they _were_ just keeping her alive for a certain reason.

They glanced around at each other before they all started laughing. Now Cressa felt embarrassed.

"Eat you!? That's a good one! What do we look like monsters or something?" Bronzi asked.

"Well I just-" Cressa didn't know how to respond to that. She hadn't meant to imply that they were monsters!

"Come on Bronzi, she didn't mean it like that," Kortz defended for her.

"So then, why did you bring me here?" she said to Kortz specifically.

"Oh, well, you were in trouble, and so I-" he stammered, placing a hand behind his head.

"He saved you cuz he's got a huge crush on you," Bronzi teased.

Kortz got a horrified look on his face and started waving his hands around, and shaking his head, attempting to get Bronzi to stop talking.

"Yeah, he couldn't bear the thought of you burning under a lake of lava." Ledd added with a grin.

"Guys! Knock it off!" Kortz exclaimed.

"Lava?" Cressa looked confused. She had never heard that word before.

"Yeah, you know, when the volcano erupted," Ledd told her.

"Volcano-" Cressa trailed pensively. She lowered her eyes to stare into her lap. "I remember – something bad happened."

"Well that's putting it lightly. If Kortz hadn't gotten you out of there when he did, you wouldn't have survived. Especially since you got knocked out when you tripped and fell," Bronzi told her.

"But, how did you even know I was in trouble in the first place?" she asked.

"Because Kortz loves to hear you sing by the spring," Bronzi told her.

At this, poor Kortz covered his face with his hands in embarrassment. He clearly was not comfortable with them sharing all this with her, but there was nothing he could do short of dragging them from the room.

"Sing by the spring," Cressa repeated. This was all sounding so familiar…

"You would come to the spring every morning to wash dishes, remember?" Ledd explained.

It was so strange that these – Mogmas – seemed to know more about her then she did. She thought hard about what they had told her – the spring, singing, the volcano, the earth shaking. She suddenly remembered how the earth had shook, and how terrified she felt. Recognition flashed across her face. The Mogmas noticed her change in expression.

"Do you remember something?" Kortz asked.

"The ground was shaking, and I remember dishes falling and breaking. And a burning liquid, lava, bursting out the top of the mountain, and a black cloud, and falling rocks." It was all coming back, and fast. The horrible sickening feeling that she had felt as the lava rushed toward her village – the village! "My, my village! My family!" she exclaimed suddenly.

The Mogmas were giving her concerned expressions, but she wasn't paying too much attention to them. She felt the sickening feeling returning, and a sense of dread at the unknown. Cressa was suddenly frantic. She dropped the cold bag from her head, scrambled out of the bed, and rushed toward the door.

"Hey, wait a minute! Where do you think you're going?" Kortz demanded, as Cressa reached the door and pulled back the cloth only to find she was in the middle of an underground maze. Tunnels stretched in all directions. She could be lost forever down here, without a guide.

Cressa whirled back around to find the Mogmas studying her curiously. "You have to take me back! I need to see if my family is okay!" she told them.

They looked at each other as if unsure of what to say. "I don't know how to tell you this girlie, but there's nothing left up there. Whatever didn't escape the lava flow is probably buried under piles of rock and ash. It's a wasteland." Bronzi explained.

Cressa's expression fell. She could feel hot tears burning behind her eyes. "I have to find out for sure! Please, please won't you take me?" she pleaded taking a couple steps toward Kortz, and staring at him with solemn eyes.

He looked sympathetic, but, "I can't. It's way too dangerous up there right now. Maybe after the lava finishes cooling…" Cressa didn't wait for him to finish.

"No! I have to know now!" she exclaimed and dashed out the door.

"Cressa wait!" Kortz yelled after her, but it was too late.

"Oh perfect, now she's gonna stir up the whole camp!" Bronzi muttered.

"You just saved her, and now she's headed out to get herself killed," Ledd said grinning.

"This isn't funny!" Kortz lectured and sighed. "I'll go after her."

"I guess you have to. She is _your_ responsibility, after all," Bronzi said with a smirk.

"You don't have to remind me," Kortz snapped and darted after her.

**Please Read and Review. I'd really like to know what people think! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**So, here's chapter 3 for my few followers! Enjoy!**

**Read the disclaimer! (It's in the first chapter.)**

Cressa had no idea where she was going. All she knew was that she needed to get to her family. They could still be alive; they could be in trouble. She didn't know, but she had to find out. She went twisting and turning through passage after passage, getting more lost and panicked as she went. Several other rooms passed her by on her way. There were rooms with long tables and benches, rooms with multiple beds, and a large open room that seemed relatively empty.

It wasn't until she burst into a room with more Mogmas that she came to a sudden halt, almost running into the back of one. They all stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her with some measure of surprise at her sudden appearance, and for a moment nobody moved. Thinking fast, Cressa decided to try just slowly backing her way out of the room. Then as soon as she was in the clear, she could turn around and dash away. There was no telling if these Mogmas were going to be as – considerate – as the others, and she didn't want to take any chances.

She began to inch her way backwards. Unfortunately, she didn't get very far. After a few steps, she backed up into something very large and hairy. 'Oh no!' she thought as the Mogmas in the room stopped looking at her and focused on whoever was behind her.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" she heard before whoever it was grabbed her by the arm. He spun her around to get a better look at her. She tried to struggle free, but to no avail. He was too strong for her.

"It looks like one of those human-things, but how did it get down here?" one of them asked. The one that was holding her had a blue Mohawk. He eyed her curiously before pulling her a little closer and sniffing her. On impulse, Cressa strained herself away from him.

"Oh yeah, I heard that Kortz rescued one of them when the volcano erupted and brought it down here," another one of them said.

"Is that so? And it seems that no one's told it that it can't just go wandering around the camp as it pleases," the one holding her scolded inadvertently. With a flick of his wrist he tossed her to another one of the Mogmas in the room.

The one that caught her was blonde too, but had considerably less hair than Bronzi. "What do you suppose we should do with it?" he asked. When Cressa heard that, a panicked look flashed across her face. What was going to happen to her now?

"Aw, come on you guys. The poor thing looks terrified," another one of the Mogmas in the room said. This one had dark blonde hair that was so long that it covered both his eyes.

"Don't worry Silva. We won't do anything _too_ terrible to it. Will we Merco?" the Mogma with the blue Mohawk taunted.

"Naw, it'll take all the fun out of it if it passes out or something like that," the one holding her said, flashing an evil grin.

Cressa felt as if she was going to pass out right now! Never in her life had she felt more helpless and _alone_. She was seriously regretting running off on Kortz and the others, and now they probably didn't know where she was. How could she have been so stupid?

As if on cue, Bronzi strode into the room. "Hey guys, you haven't seen a-" he stopped mid-sentence when he spotted Cressa. She was staring at him with pleading eyes. "Oh hey, there you are. We've been looking everywhere for you! You wanna let her go now Merco?" he insisted.

The Mogma released her arm, and she bolted over to Bronzi, incredibly grateful to see someone familiar, no matter how briefly familiar! She cowered beside him and pressed herself against him as close as she could. Cressa was gasping for breath, and she realized the reason she felt like passing out before was because she had subconsciously stopped breathing!

Bronzi looked down at her with an expression that looked both startled and confused. "What did you guys do to her?" he asked sounding concerned.

"We were just having a little fun," the blue Mohawk Mogma said with a mischievous smirk.

"Yeah, I can see that," Bronzi said.

"I told them to be nice, but they never listen to me," the Mogma with the long hair told him.

"I'm sure you did Silva," Bronzi then turned to look down at Cressa again. "So girlie, have we learned anything?" he asked sarcastically. Cressa looked up at him with a remorseful expression and nodded. "Good, you can relax now. These guys aren't going to hurt you despite whatever they said. So why don't you come out, and I'll introduce you?" he coaxed her.

Cressa's breathing had returned to normal at this point, so she slowly un-crouched herself and stood next to Bronzi, though she didn't move very far away from him. "You'll have to forgive me, if I don't just take your word for it right away," she said with an edge in her tone.

"Hey what-da-ya-know! It can talk!" This Mogma had a green top-knot on his head that looked sort of silly when Cressa thought about it.

"Of course she can. It's not like she's a dumb beast," Bronzi told him. "Anyway, Cressa this is Merco, Cobal, and Silva," Bronzi said motioning to the Mogmas he was naming. She made mental notes as he went. Merco was the other blonde one. Cobal had the green top-knot. And Silva was the nicer one with the long hair. "And this crazy one over here is Nackle." Nackle had the blue Mohawk, and Cressa believed Bronzi when he said that he was crazy. "Guys, meet Cressa."

"Hey! I'm not crazy, I'm just passionate about expressing myself," Nackle stated proudly.

"Yeah, right, passionate about being crazy," Bronzi muttered to Cressa.

"I heard that!" Nackle complained, which made the others laugh. Cressa couldn't help but crack a small smile.

"Oh finally! Ledd, she's down here! Bronzi found her," they all suddenly heard from down the hall. Cressa and Bronzi turned to see Kortz and Ledd coming down the hall. When Kortz reached her, he took her by the shoulders and looked her in the eye. "What were you thinking, running off like that? You could've gotten hurt, or worse! Don't you ever do that again!" he lectured.

Cressa was surprised at the concern she heard in his voice, as if he had been really worried about her. He had the same expression on his face that her mother had when she had wandered away from her once when she was little. It didn't make sense. How could this Mogma creature care for her when they had only just met? She studied him with a curious look.

"You don't have to worry about that, cuz she _did_ run into something worse," Bronzi spoke up, and motioned toward the Mogmas in the room. Both Kortz and Ledd glanced around the corner to see who he was referring to.

"Yo! What's up guys?" Merco asked casually while Nackle rolled his eyes.

Ledd grinned. "Oh you don't have to worry about them," he told Cressa. "They wouldn't hurt a fly, unless of course they were going to eat it."

Cobal made a face. "I don't know about you guys, but I draw the line at flies!" he said.

Kortz cast a stern look at Bronzi. "What do you mean? What did they do?" he asked.

Cressa spoke up before anyone had a chance to answer. "It's alright Kortz. I don't want to make any trouble. Besides, they were only teasing." She explained, but with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Bronzi grinned, "Well, that's really mature of you, which is more than I can say for this lot," he said eying the guys in the room.

"Whatever man!" Merco protested. Then the four Mogmas in the room returned to their previous activities.

Cressa turned back to Kortz. "I'm sorry for taking off like I did, I know it was stupid. I just-" she trailed off for a minute and adverted her gaze. Ledd and Bronzi were both listening as well. "I know that Bronzi is probably right, but," she took a deep, shaky breath. "I need to see for myself. I need to know if my family – if anyone else from my village was able to make it away from the volcano. Please, _please_ won't you take me?" she begged him.

Kortz sighed and ran and hand through his hair. The others were watching him to see what he'd do. "Alright, you win. I'll take you as close as I can. Follow me and stay close, alright?" he instructed.

Cressa gave him a small smile and nodded. "Thank you," she said. He smiled back at her.

"Are you sure that's such a good idea, Kortz?" Bronzi asked sounding concerned.

"We'll be fine. Trust me," he said and headed off down the hall. Cressa cast a questioning look toward Bronzi, wondering why this was a bad idea. His response was just to motion her down the hall after Kortz. So she turned and hurried after him.

After wandering around the underground maze for what seemed like an eternity. They finally came to a stop at what seemed to Cressa like a dead end. As they had been traveling, Cressa noticed that down every corridor lanterns had been placed along the walls to enable them to see where they were going as they went.

It got her thinking that these tunnels had possibly been there for a long time, and were frequently used by the Mogmas. Obviously there was a tunnel that led to where her village was, and that was the one they were taking. She remembered what Bronzi and Ledd had said, about how Kortz would listen to her sing while she washed dishes. Maybe she hadn't been so crazy after all, thinking that she was being watched.

"Um Kortz?" she said getting his attention. His ears perked at the sound of her voice. Cressa couldn't see it, but the sound of her saying his name caused him to grin.

"Mmmm?" he replied sounding nonchalant.

"So exactly how long have you been coming out here to watch me do dishes?" she asked. He suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, and Cressa almost ran into the back of him.

"Well, I, uh – for a little while now," he told her as he turned and gave her a sheepish grin. He seemed to be taking this okay, so she decided to press him further.

"And how did you know I even went to that spring to do dishes?" she went on.

"Uh," he laughed nervously and put a hand behind his head. "I was passing by one day, and I heard you singing. I wanted to get a better look, and – well – you sing so pretty that I, uh -" he stammered. He was adverting his gaze and fidgeting. It was obvious that talking about this was embarrassing for him. Cressa smiled. She thought it was kind of cute, in spite of herself.

"You really think I sing pretty?" she asked.

"Yeah! I mean, I think so anyway. I hope – I mean, you don't find this creepy or anything, do you?" he asked with a hopeful expression.

"No, actually I think it's kind of, flattering," she confessed. He looked relieved and happy at the same time when he heard that. Neither of them knew what else to say afterward, and it didn't take long for the silence to turn awkward.

"So, um, we should keep moving," Kortz said finally. He turned around and kept walking.

"Yeah okay," Cressa agreed.

However, now they were stopped at a dead end, and Cressa was confused.

"Okay, so now what? How are we supposed to get out of here?" she asked skeptically. She was ready to get out from underground and breathe some fresh air.

Kortz turned his head to look at her, and gave her a knowing smile. She didn't know it, but he was thinking that her ignorance was cute. "Well, the only way out of here is to dig out," he told her. Cressa flashed him a confused look.

"You mean, you don't have any permanent openings to any of these tunnels?" she asked.

"No, we can't. We don't want to risk any – unwelcome – guests into the camp. We always rebury any openings to help keep our home a secret," he explained.

"So you mean, nobody knows that this place exists except for Mogmas?"

"I guess you could say that we're not very trusting. Is that really so surprising?" Kortz asked.

Cressa thought about this for a minute. "I suppose not. I mean, I'd heard about other races besides humans living in this land when I was growing up. I just had never seen anything else before. It's hard to imagine that you're race has been living just under our feet all this time, and yet no one had even the slightest idea that you were here," she confessed.

"Yeah, well, we're pretty good at hiding." He told her. "You might want to stand back for a minute," he warned. Cressa took a few paces back, and Kortz began clawing at the earth above his head.

It didn't take him long before he had a decent sized hole punched through the roof. The evening sun came streaming down into the tunnel, and both of them squinted as their eyes adjusted to the light. Cressa hadn't even realized it was evening until now. When she thought about it, she didn't even know if it was evening of that same day, or the next day. Her sense of time was all mixed up down here.

"Alright, you can climb up now, but just let me tell you, it's not a pretty sight," he warned.

She nodded her understanding, and scrambled up the pile of dirt that Kortz had made and out the hole. The sight that met her eyes seemed almost horrific. She clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from crying out in dismay. The landscape was scorched beyond recognition. Even though they were a ways away from the volcano, she knew that normally she would be able to see her village from here. But now, now there was nothing left, nothing but a sea of ash where her village had once been.

Bronzi had been right. The devastation was so vast, that it seems nothing could have escaped it, and Cressa had to finally face the horrible truth. Her family, and everyone else in her village, was gone, consumed by the wrath of the volcano. She was alone.

Cressa hit her knees as big, wet tears began to streak down her cheeks. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed. What was she going to do now? It felt as if half of her heart was missing, a part of her that she could never get back.

Cressa dropped her hands and stared at them with bleary eyes. They were covered in dirt that was now mixing with her tears and turning to mud. It wasn't until now that she realized how dirty she was. If her mother had seen her like this, she would have been furious. Her dress was all but ruined. But that didn't really matter now, nothing did. She didn't want to go on living, but what choice did she have, thanks to Kortz, she thought bitterly.

Speaking of which, she suddenly felt him place his hand over hers. She pulled it away before turning to look at him to see what he wanted. He was still halfway underground so she could only see the top half of him. "We should go," he told her solemnly.

"Just leave me alone," she sobbed and turned back towards the field of destruction.

"Cressa we can't stay here! It's too dangerous," he said with a more serious tone. He also had an edge of anxiousness in his voice. Whatever, it didn't really matter anymore…

So Cressa allowed him to pull her back down into the hole. She watched with gloomy eyes as he packed the dirt back up around the hole and reburied the entrance. "Come on, let's go," he said when he finished and took hold of her wrist, leading her back toward the camp.

They were silent for the entire way back, which suited Cressa just fine. She didn't really feel like talking. In fact, she didn't really feel like talking ever again.

They were just coming back into the main camp when suddenly, Cressa was jumped by two Mogmas that she didn't recognize. She yelped as they grabbed her and bound her hands behind her back. "You're coming with us, human!" one of them commanded. Cressa flashed a scared look at Kortz.

"Hey, what's going on? Why are you doing that? She isn't going to hurt anybody!" Kortz asked angrily.

The other Mogma gave him a smirk. "That's not what it's for. It's to keep her from running away," he explained.

"Where are you taking her?" Kortz demanded.

"The Elder has called all together for a meeting, and it's about what is to become of the human," he told him.

At that, Cressa turned to back to look at Kortz with a questioning and worried expression. He did his best to hide his own concern, but she could already tell that he didn't know what was going to happen either. However he did his best to comfort her non-the-less. "Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be okay," he said.

"Hmm, maybe," the other two Mogmas smirked at each other, before shoving her along in front of them.

They brought her into what seemed like a large meeting hall. There were Mogmas sitting along earthen benches all around the outside of the room, like a large arena, and she was in the center with all attention focused on her. Also, in the center of the room was what appeared to be a raised seat with desk in front of it. An old Mogma with long silvery hair climbed up into it and sat down. When he did, Cressa's two captors forced her to her knees. She assumed that this must be their Elder.

Out of the corner of her eye, Cressa saw Kortz sneak into the room and take a seat at the end of the bottom bench. Was he going to let her face all of this on her own? A short, fat little Mogma with purple hair then scuttled up to where the Elder was seated. He flashed her an evil look, and then he spoke.

"Attention, attention!" he called, attempting to get all of the murmuring to quiet down. "Our illustrious Elder Guld wishes to speak!" The room then fell into an eerie silence.

"Thank you, Plats." The elder droned. "As most of you are probably aware, I have called you all here to discuss the issue of this human whose been brought among us."

"If I may speak, your Grace?" the little purple-haired Mogma asked.

"Yes, very well Plats," the Elder sighed.

"I feel that this human's presence is a danger to our whole tribe! We should eradicate it as quickly as possible," he announced. Cressa could hear some of the Mogmas murmuring in agreement, while others glanced around at each other looking confused.

"NO! You can't do that!" Everyone suddenly turned to the corner of the room. Kortz sprang up out of his seat and dashed over to Cressa. The other two Mogmas backed off a little, so he could stand right behind her. "Sir, please. It isn't her fault. I brought her here to save her from the volcano. If you need to punish someone, punish me, but please don't hurt the girl," he pleaded, placing a protective hand over the back of her neck.

"Well, it would have been better if you had left her with the rest of her kind," Plats snarled.

"You mean left her to die!? You worm! How can you possibly justify-" Kortz didn't get a chance to finish before the elder cut him off.

"Enough! This bickering is getting us nowhere," he lectured. "Now Kortz, you understand that Plats does have a point. You have endangered us all by bringing that human here."

"Yes sir. But I couldn't just leave her. That would have been, wrong. I mean, what would you have done in my place?" he asked. That caused more mumbling from the crowd, and a sharp glare from Plats. The elder looked pensive and stroked his beard.

"Hmmm, perhaps you are right. You're intensions were good, and we are not a people who scoff at the preservation of life." The elder peered down at Cressa, studying her. "This human girl does not seem malicious."

At that, Plats leaned over and talked quietly to the elder, but not so quiet so that Kortz and Cressa didn't catch what he said. "Your Grace, I should probably warn you. I have heard that the human has already attempted to escape once." They both glared at the little snipe, because they both knew that wasn't true, not exactly anyway.

"Yes, yes Plats. I understand, but now I wish to hear the opinions of my fellow Mogmas. Based on what you have heard here, how do you feel we should deal with this human?" the elder presented the question to the room.

At first there was silence. The Mogmas were looking around at each other, unsure of how to respond. Then the murmurings began again.

" - can't we just send it away? - " " - it's seen too much, we can't just let it go - " " - it can't stay here, what are we supposed to do with it - " " - maybe Kortz should have just left it alone - " " if it leaves, where's it gonna go? Wasn't the whole human village destroyed? - "

This went on for a couple of minutes. It made Cressa wonder if anyone was going to speak up with a definite opinion. Until finally, opinions started coming from a very unlikely source.

"Well I like her! I think she should stay with us," Ledd spoke up suddenly with a big grin, and the entire room shifted their attention over to him.

"Yeah, I guess she's okay, once you get past the weird smell," Bronzi commented, and then looked right at Cressa and gave her a smile and a wink.

"I wouldn't mind if she stays," Silva said.

"Me neither," Cobal added.

"She's cool with me," Merco said before casting a glance at Nackle who appeared to be studying his digging claws. He elbowed him in the side.

Nackle grunted then glared at Merco who gave him a stern look. Nackle rolled his eyes and sighed. "Okay fine! She's alright with me too," he admitted. Cressa was, to say the least, surprised at all the support. She looked up at Kortz who was casting a grateful look at the guys. She guessed he wasn't expecting this either.

"And you agree with them, Kortz?" the elder asked.

"Yes sir. I do," he replied.

"Well little human, it seems that you've already had quite the influence on the young men of our tribe," the elder told her with amusement. "And I have to say that I agree with them as well."

"But, but your Grace!" Plats exclaimed sounding dismayed.

"Be still Plats. Kortz was trying to do the right thing by offering this human girl sanctuary. However, now she has seen too much. For the safety of our people we cannot allow her to leave, even if she had somewhere to go. Therefore Kortz, I am placing her under your charge. From this moment on she is not to go anywhere without an escort. Even so, she is not to be treated as a prisoner, but as a guest, understood?" the elder asked, particularly eying Plats.

Plats glared at the floor. "Yes your Grace," he muttered.

"So Kortz, if you would be so kind as to remove the human's bonds. I will now announce this meeting as adjourned. Good day to you all," the elder finished, and began to climb down out of his seat. The rest of the Mogmas began to disperse as well, but most of them kept their eyes firmly locked onto Cressa as they left.

Kortz then bent down and untied the ropes that bound her. As soon as she was loose, Cressa began to rub at her wrists. Red marks had been left in them from where the bonds had cut into her. Those other two Mogmas had tied them unnecessarily tight, and now they were sore. Kortz then moved around and knelt down in front of her. He took her hands in his and inspected her wrists, then began rubbing them for her.

"Sorry about that. Like I said, we're not very trusting," he told her. Cressa just looked off into the distance with a blank expression. When most of the Mogmas had left, Ledd and Bronzi came over to where they were.

"I think that went well, don't you?" Ledd asked.

"Yeah, except that Plats wasn't too pleased." Bronzi commented.

"What's he going to do about it? The Elder granted Cressa sanctuary here, and you know he'd never do anything against the Elder's wishes," Kortz reminded them. He rose and smiled at his friends. "Thanks a lot guys for speaking up. I was getting a little worried there for a minute," he confessed. The other two grinned at him.

"Hey, it was no problem. What are friends for?" Ledd told him.

Bronzi was studying Cressa. She still had the zombie look on her face and was staring off at nothing. "Hey, is she gonna be alright?" he asked.

Kortz bent down again and studied her face. "Cressa, are you okay?" he asked, taking her face in one hand. Cressa felt too physically and emotionally drained to answer. Her eyelids drooped and she slumped over into his hand. Kortz looked surprised and gathered her up in his arms. Cressa moaned at being moved before she resettled.

Bronzi laughed, "She's just exhausted. I don't blame her. She's been through a lot." It was true. Cressa couldn't even remember the last time she slept.

"Well, I'll take her back to my place so she can get some rest. I'll see you guys tomorrow," he told them.

"Alright, have a good one," Ledd said before the three of them went their separate ways.

It didn't take long before Kortz stepped past the cloth that led to his quarters. He sighed, it felt good to be home. He realized that he was pretty tired himself. It had been a trying day! He shuffled over and set Cressa down on his bed. She was already asleep, so he pulled the blanket up over her for her. But now he faced another problem. Where was he going to sleep?

Kortz stepped into the other room in his quarters where he kept his treasures and other belongings. If he moved some things around, he could probably fit another bed in there for Cressa. That way she could have her own room, and some privacy, he thought. He didn't know about humans, but Mogma girls were really particular about their privacy!

Back in the bedroom, Cressa was sleeping soundly. Kortz slouched back over to the bed and knelt down beside her. He laid his head down on the bed and smiled as he watched her sleep. All of a sudden, she started to fidget. "Momma? Papa?" she moaned.

Kortz lifted his head and fixed her with a sad expression. He felt bad for her. He couldn't image what it must be like, to lose everything you've ever know and everyone you've ever cared about. It must be terrible! The poor girl. He reached out a hand and cradled her head, running his fingers through her tangled hair. That seemed to help calm her down, and he smiled. "Don't worry Cressa, I'll take care of you now. I promise," he whispered to her and blew out the lantern.

**There it is, please R &amp; R!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Well, here's the next part. Not much else to say. Enjoy!**

***Disclaimer here***

Cressa woke with a start. She opened her eyes to find that she could hardly see anything. It took her eyes a minute to adjust to the very dim lighting that was coming through the cloth over the door from the hall. At first she didn't recognize where she was. She attempted to sit up to get a better look, but as soon as she moved something moaned and stirred beside her on the bed.

She froze as a sense of alarm gripped her core. Then she slowly turned to look at the dark mass that was next to her on the bed. Whatever it was, it was alive, because she could see it move as it breathed. Her mind raced to try and remember what happened to her, and how she ended up here. It wasn't long in coming.

She remembered the volcano, the Mogmas, and then her trial sentencing her to be a captive in the Mogma tribe for the rest of her life. She let out a sigh of relief as she realized that the thing next to her was probably just Kortz. He seemed to be sleeping propped up against the bed with his head on his arms. Had he slept like that all night? She wondered. This must be his bed that she was in. It was a fairly large bed, about the size of her parents'.

The thought of her parents caused a swelling of emotion in her throat, and she choked back a sob. She could feel fresh tears burning at the back of her eyes, and stinging because her eyes were still raw from yesterday. Cressa sat up to try and get a handle on herself, but in the process she moved the bed around enough to rouse Kortz.

He lifted his head and groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. He looked around with a sleepy expression, and then squinted up at Cressa. It took him a minute to recognize her as well. When he did, he smiled up at her with half closed eyes. "Morning," he mumbled.

Cressa took a shaky breath to attempt to speak normally. "How can you be sure it's morning?" she asked glancing around the dark room.

He stood up with a grunt and stretched. "I can at least tell that it's the next day. Man, remind me never to fall asleep like that again!" he grumbled and rubbed the back of his neck. "We need to put 'getting you a bed' on the agenda today." Kortz went out into the hall, and then came back with a burning candle lighter. He lit several lamps in the room and turned them up so that it seemed almost as bright as daylight. It reminded Cressa of how her mother would light lamps in the morning before the sun rose.

"There," Kortz announced when he finished. "I know it's not exactly like sunlight, but at least now we can see –" he trailed off as he turned around to look at Cressa. Her eyes were glistening with tears in the lamp light. There was no way to hide them now. Kortz sighed and ambled over to the bed. "Don't worry Cressa. Everything is going to be fine. I'm sure you'll feel better after you get some food in your belly, hmm?" he suggested.

"I'm not hungry," Cressa told him flatly.

"Awww, come on. I know this all seems a little overwhelming now, but I'm sure you'll get used to it soon enough," he attempted to reassure her.

"Maybe they're right. You should have just left me there," Cressa said sadly.

"What? Don't say that. You heard the guys. They don't mind having you around," he reminded her.

"But at least then I'd be with my family. Instead of stuck here like a prisoner!" she snapped and began crying again.

"Hey now, the Elder made it clear that you wouldn't be treated like a prisoner," he argued. But Cressa refused to listen. She was determined to be bitter.

"That doesn't matter! I'm still never allowed to leave. No matter how I'm treated, my freedom has been taken away from me! I can't make my own choices anymore! And now I've been forced to live underground for the rest of my life, like an animal!" she sobbed angrily.

Kortz looked taken aback by her outburst. Then he looked hurt and averted his gaze. "Yeah, I guess you have." He said sadly and left the room. Cressa pulled her knees up to her chin, and then buried her face in them and cried.

* * *

"Well, you gotta cut her a little slack. I mean she did just lose her entire family, and now her freedom. And I'll bet she's not real comfortable living underground when she's used to living on top of it," Ledd suggested.

"I know, she's just making it _real_ difficult," Kortz complained.

"Maybe you should be a little firmer with her. You are in charge of her after all," Bronzi suggested.

Kortz had confided in Bronzi and Ledd that Cressa was being difficult, and refusing to eat. So they had decided to discuss it over some breakfast. Kortz and Ledd were seated at a table, and Bronzi was slouching against a nearby wall.

Bronzi couldn't help but notice that Kortz hadn't eaten much and that he was depressed. He assumed Cressa must have said something to him that really hurt him, but Kortz hadn't told them what it was.

"I don't know if that's going to help. Ugh, what if she stays like this! Then what am I going to do?" Kortz asked resting his chin down on the table.

"She _won't_ stay like this if you do take a firm hand with her." The three Mogmas in the room turned to see where the voice came from that made that statement. A large Mogma with dark brown dreads made his way into the room.

"Oh? And what would you suggest I do Zanc?" Kortz asked skeptically, lifting his head from the table.

"I think that Bronzi has the right idea. If she gives you trouble, a few lashes with a switch ought to set her straight," he explained.

"What?! I can't do that!" Kortz protested.

"Yeah, that's not exactly what I had in mind Zanc," Bronzi added.

"You suggested a firmer hand—" Zanc reminded him.

"Yeah, but I didn't mean to beat the poor girl," Bronzi said.

"We must think of what is best for the rest of the tribe," Zanc told them.

"Oh, of course! That will go over just great with her I'm sure. 'Sorry about this Cressa, but just know that this hurts me more than it hurts you!' Yeah right, I didn't believe that when my parents told it to me either! All that's gonna do is make her feel even more scared and alone," Kortz lectured.

"Thanks for the advice Zanc, but I think we'll be able to figure something out," Bronzi said.

"Very well, but I don't want to hear any complaints later," Zanc said and left the room. Kortz sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Don't sweat it Kortz. I can try talking to her later after she calms down some," Bronzi assured him.

"How do you know she'll listen?" he asked.

"I think I can tell her something that just might snap her out of it, but it depends," Bronzi said.

"Depends on what?" Ledd asked.

"On how much she likes Kortz," Bronzi told him with a grin. Kortz flashed him a confused look, but Bronzi wouldn't tell him anymore.

* * *

Cressa was sitting in Kortz's treasure room thinking. She had eventually left his bed and made it up for him so that he could sleep in it later if he wanted. She didn't want him doing her anymore favors. Not if she was going to end up wasting away to nothing down here. She didn't want him wasting his time on her.

She had seen the look on his face despite her anger. She knew she hurt his feelings, but she didn't know to what extent. Even so, that was not going to be happening again. She wouldn't have him being nice to her, just so she could hurt him again. For some reason, he cared about her, and obviously her opinions. She was not the malicious type, and none of this was his fault, so it wasn't fair to him.

Her plan went something like this: she was not going to be mean or rude, just indifferent. She didn't know when, but eventually he would stop caring about her. Then, if she hadn't starved to death already, she would go to that Plats guy and the Elder and ask them to 'eradicate' her, whatever that entailed. That way she could be put out of her misery, and she would no longer be a burden or a problem for this race. And she could do it without hurting Kortz anymore than she already had.

Speaking of which, she suddenly heard some commotion coming from around the corner. "Cressa?" she was pretty sure that was Kortz's voice. Then she saw his face peer into the room and he spotted her.

"Oh, there you are. I was afraid that you had left." He said.

"Where would I go?" she asked. "If I tried to leave I would only get lost."

"I suppose that's true," he said. Neither of them spoke for a long moment. "Are you sure you're not hungry?" he asked. Cressa nodded that she was sure. "Well, you at least have to be thirsty," he reasoned.

At the mention of her thirst, Cressa's throat ached. It was true that she was thirsty, so much so in fact that her tongue was sticking to the roof of her mouth. She felt as if all the moisture had left her body from all the crying. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to ask for some water. She could make sure to find out where it was, so that she could get it herself from now on. She looked up at him with her best blank face and nodded.

He smiled slightly at her. "Alright, I'll get you some water," he offered. But before he could leave, she stood up, a little shakily due to her lack of energy.

"If you just show me where it is, I can get it myself," she told him.

"Uh, okay," he said, sounding a tad confused, but he led the way.

Their water source was actually an underground spring, and the room that it was housed in was not too far from Kortz's quarters. There were several pots and ladles in the room, along with what looked to Cressa like washing equipment. Kortz caught her eying the equipment.

"This is where we get all our water. We can use it for drinking and washing our clothes and dishes, like you would do at your above ground spring," he explained. She nodded her understanding. She then bent down and took a pot from the ground as Kortz watched. She dipped it into the spring to fill it with water. Then she took a ladle and dipped it into the pot. She drank about two full ladles before she put the items back where she found them.

Kortz looked at her skeptically. "Are you sure that's all you want?" he asked. Cressa nodded. "Well, alright, but now you know where it is in case you need more. You can probably come here whenever you want without an escort," he said.

Cressa nodded again. "Thank you," she told him.

He smiled again. "You're welcome."

Cressa did her best to keep from looking frustrated. This may take longer than she thought, if he was already smiling at her again so soon after she had inadvertently insulted him. Well, it couldn't be helped.

She then made her way back into Kortz's quarters while he followed close behind. She pushed aside the cloth over his door and then sat back down in the treasure room. He eyed her curiously, but didn't mention it. "You'll let me know if you need anything?" he asked.

_No!_ She thought, but she nodded her head anyway to placate him, and he left again. Hopefully he would make a habit of just leaving her alone like this. That would possibly make it easier for him to lose interest in her, she thought.

* * *

"What? She made your bed?" Bronzi asked with an amused tone.

"Yeah, why? Does that mean something?" Kortz asked him.

"Well, I think it may mean that she feels guilty for being so, _difficult_, earlier," he explained.

"Anyway, she seems calm enough now if you're still wanting to talk with her," Kortz said.

"I think I'll do that," Bronzi said with a smirk.

"She's sitting in my treasure room. I think she feels safer in there or something," Kortz mentioned.

* * *

As Cressa was sitting there trying to be as insignificant as possible, and thinking of ways to try and subtlety push Kortz away, she heard some commotion in the other room again. Suddenly Bronzi stuck his head into the treasure room. "Yo! How's it going?" he asked cheerily.

"I've been better," Cressa told him, her tone thick with sarcasm.

"Clearly! Hey, so, would you mind if I had a little chat with you?" he smiled at her.

"Do I have a choice?" she asked bitterly. She wasn't entirely sure how Bronzi felt about her, but based on what she knew about him already, she wasn't too worried about offending him.

"Hmmm, good point," he said and sat down across from her. "I understand that you had a little disagreement with Kortz earlier today," he told her more than asked.

"Are you here to punish me for my insolence?" she droned. To her surprise, that actually made him laugh out loud.

"Wow, you're really taking this whole 'prisoner' thing seriously, aren't ya?" he teased. Cressa couldn't help but cast a glare at him.

"Look, I understand how you can be upset about your situation. However, there's something I think you should know. Kortz not only risked his life saving you from the volcano, but yesterday he risked his status in our tribe in order to defend you," Bronzi informed her.

"I never asked him to do anything for me," she mumbled.

"I know, I know, but you didn't have to. He wanted to," he said.

"But – but why?" she asked so softly that Bronzi could hardly hear her. "I don't understand…"

"You know, I don't really get it either. But remember what Ledd and I told you?" he probed.

She thought for a moment, "You mean, about my singing?" she asked. He nodded.

"Something about the way you sing. It's like he gets transfixed by it. When you sing, it makes him happy, and I guess, because you can make him happy, he cares about your welfare and what happens to you. Does that make sense?" Bronzi was staring at her with a very intense gaze. Cressa nodded. "He's been going to watch you for a while now, so he may feel like he knows you even if you don't know him."

"I think I understand," she said.

"Good. Now then, what you do from here on out is up to you, but let me give you some advice. I don't know what you said to Kortz this morning, but I could tell that whatever it was, you really hurt him," he told her.

Cressa knew that. She knew it all too well. She could feel another surge of emotion rising to her throat, she placed a hand over her mouth to stifle the sobs that threatened to come out. Hot tears once again ran in streaks down her cheeks. She felt so bad for hurting him.

Oh no, did this mean she cared about him too? But she didn't want to care about him! She didn't want to care about anyone else ever again! Caring about others was too painful when they ended up just getting taken away. Her head was telling her one thing, but her heart another. He just kept being so nice to her that she couldn't _help_ but like him!

Cressa sighed. Her plan wasn't going to work if subconsciously she _wanted_ him to keep caring about her. She looked up to see Bronzi smiling at her. She sniffed and wiped at her eyes, trying to get control of herself.

"So, my advice to you is this. Given your current situation, you probably shouldn't alienate the only friend you've got. Know what I mean?" he told her.

Maybe Bronzi was right. No, she knew Bronzi was right. She was being selfish and ridiculous. She had been given a second chance at life by the goddess, and instead of being grateful, she was spitting in her face. She was being ungrateful to Kortz as well…

After a long moment, another thought occurred to her. "So, does that mean you're not my friend?" she pressed Bronzi. He laughed a little and thought a moment before answering.

"With a slight attitude adjustment, I think you might have potential," he told her and knuckled her under the chin. Cressa smiled at him, but then her expression fell.

"But, what if Kortz doesn't forgive me?" she asked sadly, before they heard a rustling in the other room. They both looked at each other thinking the same thing. It was probably Kortz.

"Well, here's your chance to find out," Bronzi said with a grin and helped her up. He then pushed her out in front of him and into the bedroom where Kortz was standing. "Hey man, Cressa has something she wants to say to you," he stated. Kortz looked down at Cressa with an interested expression.

"I, uh," she stuttered, blushing slightly. Now it was her turn to be embarrassed. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry, for what I said to you and how I've been acting. I know that it was wrong of me, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I - hurt you." Her voice broke. 'Oh great!' she thought 'Here come the water works again!' "I don't know – if I can ever – make it up to you, but I - " she attempted to say through sobs.

But Kortz didn't wait for her to finish. He broke out into a big smile, grabbed a hold of her, and pulled her into him. Cressa was so surprised at this that she actually stopped crying for a minute. She wasn't sure what to do.

Kortz sighed deeply. He seemed relieved. "I was so worried that you weren't gonna come around," he said. But Cressa twisted free of him.

"Kortz, stop being so nice to me, I don't deserve it," she told him sadly. He just gazed down at her with a tender expression.

"Okay, if you really want to make it up to me, here's what you can do," Cressa glanced up at him expectantly. "If you could just eat something for me for one," he said as he took her face in his hands. "Also, please stop being so sad. I hate seeing you cry," he admitted to her and pulled her back into his embrace. It seemed to Cressa that Mogmas didn't really have much of a sense of personal space.

"I'll try," she promised.

"Awww, it's a happy ending after all," she heard Bronzi say behind her. She would have flashed him a dirty look if she could, but Kortz didn't even seem to notice he was still there. Also, Cressa didn't know it, but this was actually just the start of her adventures.

**Please R&amp;R, if you want. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Part 5 is up! Enjoy!**

***Insert usual disclaimer***

All of a sudden, they heard a loud growling sound, and it seemed to have come from Cressa. Kortz let go of her and looked down at her stomach. Cressa turned red and glanced down at it too. She might be able to pretend she wasn't hungry, but her stomach didn't lie!

Bronzi laughed. "Man that was loud! Sounds like you got your appetite back," he observed. Cressa took a step back from Kortz and wrapped her arms around her midsection.

"Yeah, well, just what do Mogmas eat anyway?" she asked.

"Bugs, grubs, worms, ya know? Things like that," Bronzi told her. Cressa's eyes crossed and she felt her stomach churn. They didn't actually expect her to eat bugs and worms did they?

"I, uh, think my appetite just left again," she stated. Bronzi laughed, and Kortz shot him a scolding look.

"That's not all we eat! We plant and harvest vegetables too," Kortz assured her.

Cressa looked relieved to hear that. "Really? Like what?" she inquired.

"Mostly tubers, like potatoes, cassava, beats, radishes, onions, carrots, parsnips, jícama and peanuts," he explained. Cressa couldn't help but notice that all these crops were ones that grew underground. "Come on, I'll show ya," Kortz said, taking her by the hand. He led her out into the hall and down toward what she assumed would be a kitchen. Bronzi followed.

Sure enough, they soon turned a corner into a room that appeared to be a large kitchen-type area. In a room next to it was a great dining hall that Cressa recognized from before when she had been running through the tunnels. The tables were made of wood, and all of the cookware seemed to be made of stone. There was a lady-Mogma in the room already, and she was stirring a giant stone pot over a fire that contained some sort of boiling liquid. Cressa recognized her as the lady-Mogma she had met before.

"Yo Ira, is that soup ready yet by any chance? Cressa has her appetite back, and now she's really hungry," Kortz explained to her.

"Is that so?" the Lady-Mogma turned to give Cressa the once over. "Goodness child, you look as if you're about to fall over. Here," Ira grabbed a stone bowl off a shelf and filled it with the boiling liquid, while Kortz pulled up a stool and sat Cressa down. Ira handed her the bowl and a wooden spoon.

Cressa had expected the bowl to be hot, but the stone was cool to the touch. She peered into the bowl at the soup hesitantly. The three Mogmas were watching her expectantly.

"Um, this doesn't have any bugs in it, does it?" she asked cautiously.

"What? Where did you get the idea that I cook with bugs?" she asked sharply. Cressa glanced over at Bronzi, who shrugged. "Well, this just happens to be my famous potato, radish, and carrot soup! Just taste it before you go insulting my cooking," she snapped and went back to stirring the pot.

Cressa slowly took a spoonful out of the bowl. She wasn't sure about this vegetable soup, but her mother had taught her never to be squeamish about food. She blew on the spoon to cool it off, and took a bite. Her eyes widened. To her surprise, the soup tasted wonderful! She didn't know if it was because she was so hungry, but it seemed to be the best soup she'd ever had!

"Mmmm, this is really good!" she announced, and began to ravenously scarf it down. It was still pretty hot, but she was too hungry to care. She didn't stop until she had drunk down every last bit of broth. Then she set the bowl in her lap and slouched back with a satisfied sigh.

"Wow, you really were hungry," Bronzi commented.

"There, you see? My cooking is terrific," Ira said cheerily.

"It's true, Ira is the best cook in the tribe," Kortz told her.

"Oh I don't know if I'd go that far," Ira told him.

It didn't take long before the food began to settle in Cressa's stomach, and she felt a spreading warmth moving out to her limbs. Kortz had been right, after she had eaten she felt ten times better. It made her think that maybe living with the Mogmas wasn't going to be so bad. After all, the 'young men of the tribe' as the Elder had put it, seemed to like having her around already. However, now that she thought about, it made her wonder why.

"So, about the meeting yesterday," Cressa began, getting everyone's attention. "I was just wondering, I mean, I can understand why Ledd and Bronzi were willing to speak up. But what about the others? Why did they?" Cressa asked.

"You know, I was wondering that myself, and it seems the Elder was right when he said you had made a good impression on those boys," Ira explained. "I overheard Merco and Nackle talking, and they were saying something about how you were 'cool' with them, because you didn't rat them out. Do you have any idea what they might be referring to?" Ira inquired.

Cressa thought for a moment, and then it dawned on her. She hadn't told Bronzi or Kortz what had happened with Nackle and the others. She had just told them to drop it. "Oh," she said in understanding, but then she frowned in confusion. "That really made an impact on them?" she asked skeptically.

"Apparently it did," Ira said. "Not only that, but all the boys speaking out in your favor also made an impact on someone else," Ira added.

"Really? Who?" Kortz asked.

"Oh, you know who," she said knowingly. "And I've heard that she's a little jealous, to say the least." Kortz and Bronzi exchanged exasperated glances.

"That's just great! I guess I should have seen that coming," Kortz muttered.

"Seen what coming? Who are we talking about?" Cressa asked. Her timing could not have been more perfect, because all of a sudden a Mogma girl with long blonde hair came striding into the room, looking incredibly snooty. Two others followed at her heels like puppies, one was brunette, and the other had black hair like Cressa. The blonde one cast a cold glare down at Cressa before she spoke.

"So, this is the little free-loader," she spat. Cressa immediately decided that she didn't like this girl's attitude.

"Come on Stella, she just got here. Isn't it a little early to be making accusations like that?" Kortz defended.

"No, I don't think so! I'm disappointed in you Kortz. I thought you cared more about the well-being of the tribe than this. To have to tolerate the presence of this human among us, it's disgusting!" she spat back at him. Disgusting?! Cressa thought that was too harsh, she was hardly disgusting!

"Yeah, it's gross!" the Mogma girl with black hair added.

"Look she's already eating our food," the brunette one pointed out. Referring to the empty bowl in Cressa's lap.

"Ladies please. Look at her," Bronzi told them, referring to Cressa's size. "It's not like she eats that much. Besides, she's entertaining to have around. At least she has been so far. Know what I mean?" Bronzi cast them with a sly smile.

"Yeah," the black haired one said, dreamily looking at Bronzi and giggling. A sharp glare from Stella put an end to that real quickly. The other Mogma-girl looked ashamed and lowered her gaze.

"Can't you see it? This human is going to end up being a burden before long. Also Plats was right. The fact that it's here puts us all in danger!" Stella exclaimed.

"Alright, that's enough. I won't tolerate this bickering," Ira lectured to them. "If you must cackle like a group of old cuccos then do it elsewhere, but I won't have it in my kitchen, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," everyone in the room but Stella answered her. Instead, she adverted her gaze and humphed.

"Good, now out, all of you. I have work to do, and you're all cluttering up my kitchen," she said shooing them out, and taking the empty bowl from Cressa as she went.

Before she left, Stella flashed one last glare at Cressa. "I'd watch my step if I were you," she growled under her breath. Then she gave the guys and fake smile and sauntered off with her little puppies following her.

"Well, that was certainly exciting," Cressa commented.

"That was Stella. As you can probably guess, she's the one that feels jealous over the attention you're getting. And the two with her were Copra and Tiri. They're always hovering around her like a pair of bees over a flower," Bronzi explained.

"But why would she be jealous of me?" Cressa asked.

"Because she hates having to share attention. Especially when it's the guy's attention. She thinks she's beautiful, and that every guy ought to be in love with her," Bronzi explained.

"Is she beautiful?" Cressa asked. She realized that she didn't know what Mogmas considered beautiful or what they found attractive in each other.

"Well, her face sure is, and she has the most stunning hair in the whole camp," Bronzi said, eluding to the idea that while her outside may be pretty, her personality wasn't.

"I think Tiri likes you Bronzi," Cressa pointed out. That made him grin.

"You may not know it yet, but this face," he said motioning toward it, "is a work of art. The ladies just can't get enough," he added. Kortz rolled his eyes.

"He thinks he's such a lady killer," Kortz said. But instead of smiling Cressa looked away sad. "What's wrong now?" Kortz asked.

"Stella's right you guys. I've been nothing but a burden since I got here," she sighed.

"What do you mean? The only thing you've done so far is eat one bowl of soup, and I guess give Kortz a stiff neck," Bronzi said.

"I know, but isn't there something I can do, you know, to help out around here?" she asked glancing up at both of them. If she was going to live here, Cressa really didn't want to be a burden, and besides she decided she might as well get involved and learn about the Mogma way of life as best she could. Also, she wasn't used to being idle. She knew if she had to sit around and do nothing that she was going to get real bored real fast.

Kortz looked immensely pleased to hear her say that, and he and Bronzi exchanged glances. "Oh I'm sure we'll be able to come up with something you can do," he assured her. "How about for now I show you around. That way you can get a better idea of where things are," he suggested.

Not that it matters, Cressa thought. She wasn't allowed to go anywhere without an escort anyway, but if it made Kortz happy. "Okay sure," she agreed.

"Great, just follow me. We'll catch up with you later, Bronzi," Kortz told him.

"No problem. See ya later!"

* * *

Kortz took her through tunnel after tunnel showing her things until Cressa was so turned around that she wasn't even sure which way was up anymore. He showed her multiple kitchens and eating rooms, where the doctor and the sick bay were located, where the food storage was kept, dug way down into the earth where it would stay cool and protected, and finally the large empty room Cressa remembered passing before.

"What's this for?" she asked.

"This is our 'recreational' room," Kortz told her. Cressa gave him a confused look.

"You know, for having fun? Don't you humans ever do anything for fun?" he asked skeptically.

"Well, yeah, but we didn't have a whole lot of time for fun. There was always lots of work to do on the farm," she explained. "I mean, we would all sit around the fire at the end of the day sometimes and listen to Papa tell stories," she suggested. Kortz sighed.

"That isn't what I'm talking about. Mogmas do that too, but what I mean is we play games in this room. For example, Mogmas love to wrestle," he told her.

Cressa gave him an incredulous look. "Seriously? Even the girls?"

"Yep, even the girls. In fact Stella is one of the best," he told her. Oh well that was just perfect. Cressa suddenly got a bad mental image of Stella grinding her into the ground. There was no way she could ever participate in that. She imaged that even the girl Mogmas were much stronger than she was.

"Okay, anything else?" she attempted to change the subject.

"Well, we also play Mud Ball down here."

"_Mud_ Ball?" Cressa wanted to make sure she heard that right.

"Yeah, basically we set up two goal nets on either side of the room. Then we pick two teams, and one team tries to get the ball into the other team's net. The first team to score ten points wins. You can either kick the ball or pick it up and run with it, but there's one hazard," he explained.

"The mud?" Cressa guessed.

"That's right. We dig shallow pits in several places and full them with really watery mud. At first it seems easy to avoid them, but when you're in the middle of the game you'll quickly find out that it's not." Kortz laughed thinking about it. "Sometimes it's so funny when Mogmas fall in that we all end up laughing so hard that we can't even finish the game, or the game turns into a mud fight. Like there was this one time when Bronzi tripped and fell face first into a mud pit. He sat up going 'My face! My beautiful face!' And then Nackle stopped right next to him and said, 'I think it's an improvement.'" Kortz told her grinning. And Cressa couldn't help grinning as she listened to his story.

"As you can imagine, that didn't sit too well with Bronzi, so he scooped up a big fistful of mud and threw it at Nackle. It hit him right in the side of the head, and then it was war. Nackle then grabbed some mud and tried to hit Bronzi back, but he ended up ducking and hit Merco instead. After that it was just one big mess, but it was still pretty fun." Kortz smiled off into the distance as he thought back.

"It sounds really filthy. If we had even _tried_ anything like that, our mothers would have been so mad, ruining our clothes and making a mess," Cressa said.

"Sheesh, you humans sure are uptight. You need to learn to loosen up a little if you're gonna live like a Mogma. It's not like we don't all take baths afterwards! The girls especially don't like having mud in their hair," Kortz explained.

Cressa nodded her understanding. "Anyway, let's go. I've still got more to show you," Kortz said taking her hand and pulling her along.

They soon came to an area where there were several wide tunnels all lined up in a row. These tunnels had lower ceilings than normal, and they stretched out farther than Cressa could see. When they got up close she could see other Mogmas digging into the dirt above their heads, sticking some kind of bulb into the hole and then packing the dirt back around it again.

"This is where we have our farms," Kortz explained. "You're just in time for the beginning of the planting season. Instead of having our crops below our feet, like you humans do, ours are above our heads."

"How do you tell when their ready to harvest though, if you can't see the leaves?" Cressa asked.

"We tell by the roots," Kortz quipped.

"Hey Cressa!" At the sound of her name Cressa turned to see Ledd coming toward them. He had something clutched in his hand.

"Bronzi told me that you were feeling kind of down because you didn't know how you could help out around here, so I've decided to give you these," he told her when he reached them and handed her a pair of very odd looking gloves. These gloves didn't have fingers. Instead they had what looked like Mogma claws coming out from the knuckles on each glove.

"What are these?" Cressa asked.

"These are my old digging mitts. When you're a Mogma, everything revolves around digging. And since you don't have digging claws, well, I just figured that these would come in handy," Ledd explained.

"Wait, but since you do have digging claws, why did you ever need these?" Cressa attempted to put one on.

"I needed them when I was little," he said. Cressa cast an inquiring glance at Kortz.

"When Mogmas are first born, their digging claws aren't firm enough to actually use. So they learn how to dig with digging mitts," Kortz clarified for her.

"Oh of course, so where are your digging mitts Kortz?" Cressa asked. He just shrugged.

"I can't remember what happened to them," he admitted.

When Cressa had them on, she inspected her hands. The digging mitts were thick and solid, and they came down around her wrists and strapped around the palms of her hands. They had something firm that ran along the back of them and seemed to be attached to the metal claws. It made sense to Cressa. That way when she was digging, the claws would have something to brace themselves against and they would stay in place.

"Wow, these are really neat!" Cressa bent down and tested them out. She found that she was able to move dirt four times as fast than just using a regular spade. "And they work really well." Cressa refilled in the hole she just made and stood up. She inspected her hands again. "Thank you Ledd. I'll treasure them," she said grinning at him.

"Aw, shucks, it's not that big of a deal. They were just lying around collecting dust anyway," he said putting a hand behind his head.

"It looks like everyone is wrapping it up for the day," Kortz mentioned. Cressa glanced over at the working Mogmas. Sure enough, they seemed to be putting aside their work, and it wasn't long before they all started filing out of the tunnels.

"Awww, I wanted to try out the digging mitts," Cressa protested.

"Don't worry, you'll have plenty of opportunities to try them out later, I'm sure," Kortz reassured her. "But for now, it's dinner time! Come on!" Kortz said enthusiastically and led her away toward the kitchen.

**So yeah, you viewers out there. Let me know what you think! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! First off I want to apologize that this chapter took so long, but in my defense I've been on vacation and then right after that moved into a new apartment. So I've also been without internet for a little while. It was horrible! How do people survive with no Wifi?!**

**Anyway, all my ramblings aside, here's the next part of the story! Yay! R&amp;R**

**Disclaimer blah blah blah Disclaimer**.

Cressa could hear the chattering of many Mogmas coming from the dining hall as they moved closer toward the entrance. It reminded her of Town Hall during one of the big village meetings they used to hold. All the women would help cook up a big feast, usually to make sure there was a decent turn-out, and then everyone would comment on each other's cooking more than actually discuss what the meeting was about. Cressa cracked an amused smile as she remembered.

However, her smiled died once she entered the room. It was as if they could sense her cross the threshold, because as soon as she did all noise ceased, and all eyes turned to her. Most of the looks were of mild disapproval, but some we're of just plain outrage. Cressa swallowed hard. It was _blatantly_ obvious that nobody wanted her in there. She took a small step back, attempting to get away from the vicious glares, and Kortz glanced towards her.

"I think I'll just eat in the kitchen with Ira again," she said softly, edging away from the dining hall.

"Hey wait," he said stopping her. "You don't have to be intimidated by the others. They're going to have to get used to you sooner or later." If that was his attempted to reassure her, he was failing miserably!

"Kortz, please don't make me go in there," she pleaded, looking up at him with frightened eyes.

He sighed. "Oh all right. I suppose we can just find somewhere else to eat," he consented. So she scuttled quickly into the kitchen. Ira was there with one other lady Mogma. They both looked very busy preparing more stew, until Ira noticed someone else in her kitchen and turned towards Kortz and Cressa.

"Back for more are you?" she asked cheerily. At that the other lady Mogma stopped what she was doing to glance at Cressa.

"So, this is the one everyone is talking about?" she inquired. Ira nodded in response.

"Well hon, if I were you, I would think about eating this somewhere other than the dining hall," she warned, handing Cressa a steaming bowl of stew. "No one is super pleased about the Elder's decision."

"Yes ma'am I picked up on that vibe," Cressa told her. She gave Cressa a small smile and then continued her work.

"Why don't you take her to eat in the room at the end of the hall?" Ira suggested to Kortz, also handing him a bowl of food and two spoons.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing myself."

Cressa then followed Kortz out of the kitchen and down the hall. The room Ira was talking about had a rather large, round wooden table with stools that circled it at even intervals. Kortz decided on a spot off to the left side of the room, and Cressa hopped up on a stool next to him. The table was a bit taller than she was used to, but she was able to manage.

They ate in an awkward silence for a while. She thought Kortz seemed a bit put out from that little episode, due to the fact that he kept glaring at the wall. He was probably thinking the same thing she was. 'How was this going to work out now?' Pretty much every Mogma in the village already hated her! She was about to question Kortz about it, when suddenly Merco and Nackle came sliding into the room.

"Whoo! I think I just felt another Ice Age coming—" Nackle said, jokingly rubbing his arms with his hands like he had just felt a cold breeze.

"Yeah, I know, because that was _COLD _man!" Merco finished for him. They both laughed and gave each other a high-five. Cressa scooted closer to Kortz when they came in. She glanced back and forth nervously between the two Mogmas.

"Come on you guys," Kortz lectured. "That isn't funny, and I'm not in the mood,"

"But you should hear some of the things they're saying about her," Nackle said pulling out a stool for himself near the opposite side of the table.

"It's not pretty," Merco added.

_Oh perfect!_ Cressa thought with an eye roll. "Like what?" she asked hesitantly.

"Well, most Mogmas just think that having you around is awkward," Merco explained. "But some of them are thinking that we should get rid of you, because you could ruin our whole way of life – or – something like that."

"What?! That's ridiculous!" Kortz protested, slamming a fist on the table causing Cressa to jump.

"Told ya it was bad," Merco said.

They heard some more noise from down the hall, and Bronzi stuck his head in the room.

"There you guys are," he said. Apparently he had been looking for them. He came into the room with Ledd and Cobal on his heels. "You doing okay girlie?" he asked Cressa, while they all sat down at different spots around the table. "That was pretty brutal."

"Yeah, I'm okay. I've never been real good at making friends – guess not much has changed," she muttered irritably.

"Aw, come on! We're your friends," Ledd told her, attempting to cheer her up. Instead she just flashed skeptical looks at Merco and Nackle.

"Hey, don't give me that look. I said something at the meeting for you too!" he argued.

"Ha, yeah, but not until after Merco had to – 'persuade' – you!" Cobal laughed.

"I'm a master of persuasion. By the way, why are you eating with a pair of digging mitts on?" Merco asked with a confused look. Everyone then turned to stare at Cressa's hands. She glanced down at them herself. She had actually forgotten that they were on.

"Uh, well – I uh," she stammered. "I guess they make me feel like I fit in more," she confessed.

"You're gonna need a whole lot more than a pair of digging mitts before that crowd thinks you 'fit in'," Nackle told her bluntly.

"Yeah I know, but also, Ledd just gave them to me recently, and I don't want to risk losing them," she said matter-of-factly in a bolder tone.

Kortz watched her as she rubbed the arm bands of the mitts protectively. He realized then that the mitts were more than just a handy tool to Cressa. They were now something that _belonged_ to her. Here was a girl who had just lost everything, and it wasn't just her family and friends. Every possession that she had ever had in this world was now gone too! Having something that was hers was probably comforting on some level. Cressa didn't actually realize this, but Kortz was right. He smiled at the thought. Maybe if she had some more of her own stuff, she would feel more like she belonged here.

Cressa finished her soup and stood up. She then picked up her bowl and headed for the door.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Kortz stopped her. She turned to him with an innocent expression.

"Just taking my bowl back to—" she paused and blinked around at all the dubious looks. "Oh right," she added with a heavy sigh. "Would someone like to _escort_ me back to the kitchen?" she asked, not attempting to hide the sarcasm.

"Do you even remember the way back?" Bronzi asked her.

Cressa glanced upward, pondering the question. "I think so."

"Well then, by all means, lead the way," he told her following her out. She got the impression he didn't believe her, but exited the room first anyway.

She only hesitated for a moment at the end of the curved hallway. It was difficult to remember where things were when _everything_ looked exactly the same; at least it did to Cressa. She turned right and was relieved to find herself back in the kitchen. She turned back to Bronzi with a satisfied smile.

"Not bad," he admitted looking impressed, if only slightly. "You're a quick learner."

"Well, I try." Cressa set her bowl down next to a stack of other dirty bowls. "So, now what?" she asked.

"Hmmm, I think Kortz mentioned getting you a bed?" Bronzi suggested.

"Oh yeah! But, where's he going to get one?"

"I have a pretty good idea," Bronzi told her with a smirk that Cressa wasn't so sure about.

* * *

A little while later she was standing in the middle of a sea of some white fluffy stuff that covered the floor of Kortz's room. Cressa stared at the two grinning Mogmas with incredulous eyes. "What do you mean I have to _make_ my own bed? I thought you were going to get me a complete one," she asked irritability.

"Of course not, any bed that's already made is being used by someone. It's not like we have extra just lying around," Kortz explained.

"Yeah, we don't really get a lot of company," Bronzi added, to which Cressa narrowed her eyes at him. He then walked over and handed her the bundle he was holding. She humphed when it hit her chest.

"What's this?" she indicated the bundle.

"Fabric and sewing stuff, complements of Ira," he told her.

Cressa had no idea where any of this stuff came from. It all smelled kinda funny, so she decided maybe she didn't want to know. She set it down among all the fluff.

"Well, have fun, we'll check back later," Kortz told her and they turned to leave.

"What?! Wait a minute! You mean you're not going to help me?" she asked, having a mild panic attack.

They exchanged glances before Kortz spoke. "No, we can't. We have other chores to do, so we don't really have time."

"Yeah, and besides, this is woman's work," Bronzi added with a sly smirk and waved her off.

"Woman's work!" Cressa protested. "Listen you! I've never made a mattress, so I have no idea what I'm doing!"

They both just shrugged, "Sorry Cressa, but I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out. I've already rearranged my stuff in the treasure room to make space for you. Good luck!" Kortz assured her, and with that they were gone.

Cressa took a very deep sigh. "Fantastic!"

She undid the bundle of fabric to find a needle and thread and the strangest pair of scissors she had ever seen. She wasn't even sure they were scissors at first, but then, she found herself with no idea where to start. Her mother had helped her make dolls once or twice before. So hopefully this wasn't going to be too different. It was the same basic concept, only this time she just needed to make a big rectangle then stuff it with the fluff, right?

However, she quickly realized that she needed to be careful about how big she cut the fabric. If she cut out too much, then there wouldn't be enough fluff to fill it and her bed would be very flat and not give her any support from the ground. On the other hand, if too little, then she wouldn't be able to fit comfortably on the bed. She also had to take into account the amount of space Kortz had provided for her in his treasure room. She decided to try and base her measurement off of her height and what she could remember from her old bed…

* * *

Several hours later, she was finally stuffing the last of the fluff into her, slightly lopsided, new mattress. She was tired and frustrated and so eager to be done that she didn't really care how her needle work looked as she sewed up her stuffing hole. Cressa then all but collapsed onto the bed to test it out. It was – a little lumpy, but that was to be expected and it should work itself out with time. _But for now, _Cressa thought, _it was time for sleep_!

She had hardly dozed off when a commotion in the hall snapped her out of it. Moaning, she pushed herself up and wandered into the main room. Kortz had just come inside, and he was looking grumpy, but then he took a look at the floor and looked sort of surprised that it was 'fluff free'.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, yawning a rubbing one eye.

"Let's just say there's room for improvement. Did you finish your bed?"

Cressa nodded and pointed towards the treasure room. Kortz peeked in to take a look. "Not bad. Is it comfortable?"

Cressa yawned again. "Too tired to care," she mumbled. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to sleep on it. You wouldn't happen to have an extra blanket would you? Or do I have to make one of those too?" she asked not attempting to hide her irritation.

Kortz walked over to his bed and pulled a small blanket out from under it. "Will this do?" he asked, handing it to her.

"It's peachy," she said, snatching it and once again collapsing on the bed.

Kortz chuckled at her. "Good night Cressa," he said merrily.

"Good night Kortz," came the muffled reply. His smiled widened at her response. It wasn't long after that he decided to turn in himself.

* * *

The next morning, Cressa awoke feeling considerably more refreshed. At least, she thought it was morning. It was hard to tell when everything was pitch-black. She sat up and scanned the room through the opening, her eyes automatically searching for a recognizable object. Like before, the only light source was the one in the hall, filtering in through the cracks around the cloth over Kortz's door.

Cressa attempted to remember where he kept the lamp lighter. She felt her way out of the treasure room and fumbled around in the dark, trying to locate it. She ended up bumping into a table and stubbing her toe. "Ow," she protested as many of the contents on the table crashed onto the floor. "Oops."

Kortz moaned at the noise and she heard him stir in his bed. She had woken him up, which was what she had been trying _not_ to do. _Oh, the hell with it_, she thought angrily and promptly marched over to the door, yanking back the cloth. The light spread across the room and showed her what had happened to the lamp lighter. It was lying on the floor under the table along with several other articles.

As soon as she spied it, she let go of the cloth and walked back over to the table to get it, but in doing so, the cloth fell back over the door, once again plunging the room in darkness. She did her best to remember where things were, and finally succeeded in finding the lighter after she had gotten down on hands and knees. She attempted to stand back up, but subsequently forgot about the table and banged her head with a loud _thump._

"Ack! By the goddess!" she cursed her irritation, and then heard a chuckle at her outburst. Now she was actually thankful it was still so dark, so Kortz couldn't see her flush of embarrassment.

"Cressa, what are you doing?" he asked. She could hear the grin in his voice.

"I'm trying to find the lighter so I can light the darn lamps!" she snapped, and carefully backed away from the table before trying to stand up again.

She huffed out of the room and came back in a few seconds later with the ignited lighter. After carefully lighting the lamps and turning them up, she extinguished the lighter and happened to glance over at Kortz. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, his feet dangling off the side, and he was watching her with an amused expression.

She scowled and turned away. He may think it was funny, but she didn't. Cressa then began to pick up all the discarded items and put them back on the table. "I'm not used to navigating in total darkness. I don't know how you can do it," she argued.

Kortz tapped his nose knowingly. "Mogmas can 'see' with their noses," he explained.

"Well, isn't that nice for you. Unfortunately, my sense of smell isn't nearly so keen," she confessed.

"Clearly," he said, his voice coming from right behind her.

Cressa let out a yelp and whirled around. She took a step back when she saw how close he was to her, and stared at him with surprise. How had he gotten there without her noticing? She hadn't heard a thing!

"Now see, if you were a Mogma, you would have known I was there," he told her, picking up a mug from off the floor and setting it back on the table. He flashed her a sly grin.

She returned with a glare. "Very funny," she said and turned away again.

"Awww, come on, don't be mad. You're going to get to try out your digging mitts today!" he said merrily.

At that Cressa brightened. "Really?" she asked, flipping back around to face him.

"Yep, right after we get something to eat. Let's go," and with that they started off down the hall.

* * *

After breakfast, Kortz led Cressa back down to where the farms were. Many Mogmas had already gotten started, and they all eyed her warily as they worked.

"Are they going to be alright with me here?" she asked Kortz quietly.

"I can have you work near the edge of the group if that would make you more comfortable," he suggested. She gave him a grateful smile and nodded. "Alright, let me show you the basics so you can get started."

Kortz picked up a basket full of 'ready-to-plant' bulbs out of a pile of several and escorted her over to a more or less secluded corner. He then proceeded to explain how to dig out a sort of pocket in the earth above them, stick a bulb in, and then rebury it. But in a way that you could tell where the bulb was. This was so you didn't undo your work by accidently digging up bulbs that were already planted just because you couldn't tell where they were. It made sense to Cressa.

"Be sure to let me know if you need anything or have any questions. I'm going to be working just over there where the top soil is a little higher," he said pointing to an area across the room. Cressa nodded that she would, and Kortz started off to get a basket of his own.

She had barely begun working when suddenly she heard a snotty voice come from behind her. "Well, if it isn't the little invader." Cressa recognized the voice as belonging to Stella. "Trying not to be a complete free-loader, are we?" she asked snidely.

Cressa turned toward her to see that her 'puppies' were right behind her, giving her dirty looks. "I don't want any trouble Stella, I just want to help," Cressa said, trying her best to be polite and to not retort with a snide comment of her own.

"Isn't that nice, I hope the work's not too hard for you, being as scrawny and weak as you are." Stella was talking in a baby voice as she spoke, trying her best to make her statement as offensive as possible.

Cressa just gave her a fake smile. "I'm sure I'll manage somehow, but I appreciate your concern."

Stella just glared and 'humphed' at her before she grabbed a basket and began working in the next tunnel over, followed by her little gang. Cressa did her best to shrug off the conversation, and focused on her work.

After a while, Cressa began to notice that she was running out of room in her particular work area, but she wasn't out of bulbs. So she stepped out of the tunnel and looked around for Kortz. When she couldn't immediately find him, she turned back to see if she would be able to find another spot to work on her own.

Stella spotted her peering around, and suddenly an evil smile formed on her mouth as if a wicked idea had just formed in her mind. "Hey human," she called in a casual tone.

Cressa turned to her in surprise, and then raised an eyebrow.

"If you want, there's an area back here where no one's working," she suggested. The other two Mogma girls looked at her in shock. Why was she suddenly being nice? Stella motioned to the area that she meant. They looked over at the spot, and then flashed each other knowing glances.

"Yeah, no one has planted anything over here yet," Copra added.

Cressa eyed them warily. She wasn't so sure she should listen to them, but she decided it wouldn't hurt to take a look. She wandered past them to the site that Stella had indicated. Nothing seemed particularly wrong with it, and she was right, no one had planted anything here yet.

She turned back to them with a hesitant smile. "Uh, thank you."

"Don't mention it," Stella replied in a way that sort of made her nervous. She glanced around the area one more time to be sure, but she still couldn't see anything wrong with it. Maybe Stella had just decided to quit caring about her there? No matter, Cressa decided to just get back to work.

She began to dig and quickly noticed that the soil here was much dryer than the spot where Kortz had her working. It didn't seem to want to keep its form, and was now spilling out around her feet. She was about to mention this to Stella when suddenly there was a loud rumble and before she could react the whole tunnel seemed to cave in on top of her. Cressa let out a scream right before she was completely buried!

After everything had settled, Cressa quickly realized with terror that the dirt was too heavy for her to move, and that she was suffocating. There was dirt in her mouth, in her nose, and in her eyes! And if somebody didn't dig her out soon, this would be it for her!

* * *

As soon as Kortz had heard the scream, he came rushing over. He took a quick glance at the pile of dirt before casting a suspicious glare at Stella. "What happened!?" he demanded.

"Hum, it seems that your little girlfriend tried to dig in the dry dirt and got herself buried. I told her not plant there, but she wouldn't listen to me," Stella said with and innocent expression.

Kortz's gaze darted back to the dirt pile, his eyes widened with horror at the realization that Cressa was trapped under there! By this time Bronzi and Ledd had ambled over to see what was going on.

"Hey, what's going on?" Ledd asked.

"Cressa is trapped under there!" He motioned frantically toward the mound of dirt. "Quick, help me dig her out!" At this news, all three of them dived at the dirt pile and began digging at a frenzied pace.

* * *

Just when Cressa was about to give up hope and succumb to the darkness, she suddenly heard a scraping sound from the other side of the dirt, and it was getting louder. Then a small inkling of light appeared, and she felt a strong hand grasp her arm and yank hard. She came most of the way out with that first pull, and immediately began gasping and coughing up dirt.

"Cressa, are you alright?" She could tell it was Kortz even though she couldn't really see yet. She nodded that she was, but wasn't real sure she believed it.

Once she had caught her breath, Cressa swiped at her eyes, and realized they were watering profusely. That was good, because it was helping to push the remaining dirt particles out. However, it was difficult trying to make her hands work right since she was trembling from the terror and the trauma. After she could see again, she looked up to see that Ledd and Bronzi were there as well. They were looking relieved.

"Whoo, that was a close one. Thought we lost you for a second there," Ledd said smiling. Cressa coughed again in response She had thought she was a goner too!

Bronzi and Ledd continued to dig her out the rest of the way as Kortz turned to Stella with an angry scowl. Apparently she was still hanging around to watch.

"I warned you that this human doesn't belong here. She just going to be a liability," Stella said.

"She would be less of a liability if she wasn't getting fed faulty information," Kortz said through gritted teeth, guessing at the cause of the ordeal.

Stella glared at him. "I don't know what you're talking about," she lied and turned back to her work.

By this time, Ledd and Bronzi had Cressa dug out and were now helping her up and brushing her off. Her dress, if you could still call it that, was completely in tatters, and she was even filthier than before. She cringed when she looked down at herself, and saw that the others were cringing as well at her appearance.

Kortz sighed. "Come on; let's go get you cleaned up. And maybe find you some new clothes."

Cressa nodded and followed him out of the tunnel. Albeit a bit shakily after her ordeal, and when she hobbled by, Stella fixed her with a hard glare. "I warned you to watch your step. This isn't over," she threatened. Cressa said nothing, but returned the glare. It was over as far as she was concerned. She would make sure not to fall for any more of Stella's tricks.

Once they were away from the others, Kortz stopped and turned to face her. "So, I probably don't need to tell you this, but you should never try to dig where the soil is really dry. You've seen what can happen if you do."

Cressa nodded. "I've also learned to never trust _anything_ Stella says," she added with a scowl.

Kortz grinned at her. "I'm sorry about that. I probably should have warned you about it from the beginning, but I never thought. . ." he trailed off.

Cressa already knew what he was thinking, and she didn't want him to dwell on it. "So, where are you taking me?" she asked.

Kortz looked grateful for the subject change. "We're going to see Ira, I'm sure she'll know what to do with you."


	7. Chapter 7

**So, this chapter is especially Disney inspired. Lol, just warning you now! :D**

**Aside from my not owning any of the Mogmas (except for my OC ones) I also don't own the song that's in this section.  
It was written by Oscar Hammerstein II and composed by Richard Rodgers. You'll see when you get there! **

When they arrived at Ira's home, Kortz pulled back the cloth to see if she was there. She was. "Yo, Ira, ya busy?" he asked. She was sitting at a table and appeared to be sewing something, Cressa couldn't tell what.

"Not too busy for you two. Why don't you come in?"

Cressa recognized Ira's home as the same room she had seen when Kortz had first brought her here. So apparently Kortz had taken her to Ira to treat her after she had bumped her head as well. Ira set down what she was doing and turned towards them. She took one look at Cressa and made a small gasp.

"My goodness, what happened to you child!?" she exclaimed.

"We had a little accident at the farms today. I was wondering if you could get Cressa cleaned up, and maybe find her something else to wear," Kortz said sheepishly.

"Well yes of course. No way she can continue to wear that. It's completely ruined!" Ira rose from her chair and started to gather some things from around her home. "Come with me hon. We'll get you fixed up in no time."

They then proceeded to head to the water room. Kortz helped Ira to haul water back and forth from the kitchen so they could warm it over the fire and then dump it into a large tub that Cressa hadn't noticed before. It wasn't long before they had a nice steaming bath prepared.

"Alright Cressa, the water's all ready for you. So I guess, you can get in whenever you're ready," Kortz said.

Cressa glanced at him with a slightly worried look. He wasn't going to _stay_ was he? But before she got a chance to comment Ira cut in.

"Oh no, you're not staying. I appreciate the help with the water, but we can handle the rest on our own thank you kindly, but nice try." Ira then began shooing him from the room.

Kortz flushed a little. "I didn't mean –" he started, but Ira cut him off.

"Sure you didn't," she said sarcastically. "You can wait out here." She pushed him out the door. "Don't worry, we won't be long." And with that she drew the cloth over the door, and then turned to Cressa. "Now dearie, let's get you out of those rags."

Cressa looked alarmed as Ira made her way over to her. "You really don't have to stay either. I know how to bathe myself," Cressa reasoned.

"Nonsense dear, Mogmas always help each other bathe. How will you know if you've got all the dirt out of your hair and fur otherwise?"

Cressa didn't really understand her logic. After all, Cressa wasn't a Mogma, so she didn't have any fur, and her hair wasn't all that long either. But Ira wouldn't have any of her protesting. So Cressa had no choice but to let the lady Mogma strip her and haul her into the tub. She yelped when she hit the water. It was much warmer than she had been expecting, but she didn't really mind. The hot liquid felt wonderful on her dirty skin and aching muscles. She hadn't even realized how sore she was until now.

Ira then took a cloth soaked with some strange smelling stuff and began to wash Cressa with it in a firm but gentle manner, mostly concentrating on her hair. She was just starting to get over the awkwardness and beginning to enjoy the bath, when suddenly Ira decided she was finished with her hair and dunked her under the water! Cressa burbled in shock, but Ira didn't keep her under long.

Once Ira was content that she was thoroughly rinsed, she hoisted her back out of the water and onto her feet. Cressa took a sharp gasp. "Hey, could you warn me next time before you do that."

"Oh, sorry dear," she said and continued scrubbing. This time though, around the more – sensitive - body parts. "Ack! Ira, please, I can wash that part myself," Cressa pleaded, but Ira was unfazed.

"Oh, you don't need to be embarrassed hon. I do this all the time for the young ones," she said.

That wasn't much of a comfort for her, and Cressa began sort of giggling and making other strange noises at the weird sensation of being washed by someone else. This only added to her embarrassment, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. It was probably a good thing she wasn't aware of who was listening on the other side of the cloth.

* * *

Kortz had been patiently waiting for what seemed like an eternity to him. He started to get a little worried when he heard Cressa yelping and gasping like she was in pain, but then later she started making an assortment of strange noises that gave him a good idea of what was probably happening. This understanding caused him to grin, in spite of himself.

Around that time, Bronzi and Ledd both came around the corner, and walked over to Kortz when they spotted him leaning up against the wall.

"Yo, what's happening?" Bronzi asked him.

Kortz motioned towards the cloth covering the door that led to the water room. "Cressa's getting a bath from Ira," he said.

The others stopped for a minute to listen to the medley of noises coming from inside the room. Then they both exchanged pained expressions.

"I remember getting baths from Ira when I was little. It was never very fun," Ledd admitted.

"Yep, the 'Ira treatment' can be brutal. So how's she taking it?" Bronzi asked.

"I don't think she's very comfortable with it, but she's not arguing anymore," Kortz said.

"What's Ira gonna dress her in?" Ledd asked after a pause.

"Don't know. Guess we'll have to wait and see." Kortz replied.

* * *

After another rinsing session, Ira finally decided that Cressa was adequately cleaned and walked back over to where she left her things to get a drying cloth. When she did, Cressa picked up the wash rag on the side of the tub where Ira had left it and sniffed it curiously. It wasn't like anything Cressa had ever smelled before. It was sort of sweet and sort of earthy.

"Ira, can I ask you what's on this wash rag?" Cressa ventured.

"Yes," Ira told her returning with the drying cloth. "It's an extract from a flower that grows near a river a long ways from the volcano," she explained. Cressa took the cloth from her and wrapped it around herself.

"Well, I suppose that explains why I didn't know what it was." Cressa carefully stepped out of the tub and tip-toed over to pick up her torn and tattered dress. Ira stopped her.

"Oh, don't bother with that thing now dear. It's not even fit to be used as a rag anymore. We'll just throw it away. I have a nice new set of clothes for you to wear," Ira said smiling.

She helped Cressa finish drying off, and then set the cloth aside. She pulled the girl closer toward her and wrapped something around her. As Ira was tying it securely around her chest, Cressa peered down to see that it was a simple brown breast wrap, just like the ones the other girl Mogmas wore. Ira then added a loin wrap, and the skirt thing that covered it, all in the same color.

The skirt, was barely that in Cressa's opinion, seeing how it only reach down to a couple inches above her knees, and had splits that came up so high on each side it almost revealed the loin wrap underneath. Cressa couldn't believe Ira expected her to go out in something so revealing. Growing up, she had gotten used to wearing long dresses with long sleeves. Usually the only skin that would show was her hands and face, and maybe her neck, depending on the style. This felt like underwear! And she voiced her concerns to Ira.

"Doesn't this seem a bit – small – to you?" Cressa asked carefully, trying not to be offensive.

"Well, you have such a petite frame that this outfit is _actually_ a child's size. You would drown in anything bigger. I think it fits you just perfect," Ira reasoned.

She then finished off the outfit by adding a set of the harness straps that all the Mogmas wore. Two straps encircled each of her shoulders and a third linked them together across her back. She fingered the straps, admiring the blue flowers that were embroidered into them. These, she admitted to herself, she actually liked. The swirling, delicate design was so pretty the straps almost felt like jewelry.

Ira noticed her fawning over the straps. "I thought that eventually you would need different clothes. So I made that harness myself, specifically in your size," she admitted.

Cressa glanced up in surprise. "You made this just for me? It's so beautiful! Thank you so much," Cressa said with a big smile. It seemed she would just have to get used to the revealing clothing.

"Just one more thing," Ira said, pulling out a comb that looked like it was made from some sort of shell. She ran the comb through Cressa's hair, untangling the curly, raven locks. After her hair was free of knots, Ira finally finished by taking what looked like some sort of large hair pin, with a matching blue flower at the end, and doing her hair up in a kind of half bun half pony tail. This then revealed for the first time Cressa's ears, which ended in semi-long points at the tips. It was a rather common trait for the people of her village.

"There, now you're ready," Ira said with satisfaction, and taking a step back to admire her work.

"Ready for what?" Cressa asked after a brief pause.

"To be seen of course! Go, go see what Kortz thinks," Ira said, gently pushing her toward the door.

"Oh – alright," Cressa said a bit hesitantly, and pulled the cloth back, slowly stepping out into the hallway.

She quickly realized that it wasn't just Kortz who was waiting for her in the hall anymore. Apparently Ledd and Bronzi had joined him at some point, and all three of them turned toward her as she emerged. She watched as their eyes widened at her new appearance, Kortz's most of all.

"Wow," was all he managed to say. Cressa found their intense gazes to be a little embarrassing and she flushed, covering her bare stomach with her arms and adverting her gaze, feeling very exposed.

"Hey girlie, you're looking pretty good," Bronzi said after a minute, and bent down to sniff at her. "And you smell better too, more normal. Cressa looked up at him and blushed harder.

"Thank you, but – I _feel_ naked," she confessed.

Ledd looked thoroughly confused at her statement. "You look fine to me, besides isn't it a lot easier for you to move around now without all that extra fabric?" he reasoned.

Cressa thought about it for a minute. It was true that her dresses had restricted her movements before, seeing as how they were tight around her shoulders and baggy around her legs. Now there was nothing deterring her from moving in any way she wished, and it would make reaching up over her head to plant the bulbs much easier, among other things.

"I suppose," she admitted testing her flexibility.

Bronzi suddenly noticed Kortz was still staring in a kind of trance. He elbowed him in the side and flashed him a mischievous smile, wiggling his eyebrows. Kortz came out of his trance with a look of awkwardness then gave Bronzi a hard glare. He turned to Cressa and his face softened into a smile.

"You look much better than you did before. Clean and – uh – pretty," Kortz told her. Cressa flushed again and looked at him with a bit of confusion on her face.

Kortz suddenly looked slightly panicked. "Oh, uh, n-not that you weren't pretty before, it's just now that you're all clean and stuff, you know without dirt all over your face and mud in your hair –" he trailed, looking suddenly uncomfortable placing a hand behind his head. Cressa just continued to stare at him with a bemused expression. "Oh wow, I'm – just making this worse, aren't I?" he chuckled awkwardly.

"Yeah, you might want to stop while you're a head," Bronzi suggested sounding amused.

Though embarrassing, their reactions made her curious, and for the first time since she'd come here, Cressa wished she had a mirror so she could see herself. She wasn't sure how Kortz could find her pretty, or any of the others for that matter, since she wasn't a Mogma, after all. Nevertheless, she found the compliments to be flattering, and she gave Kortz a big smile.

He smiled back. "Well, what I mean is, you look nice," he finished.

"Thank you," she told him sincerely. "So, now what?" she asked looking around at the three of them.

"Well, farming's done for the day, so there's not much to do until dinner," Bronzi said, pausing to think for a second. "Why don't we see what the others are up to?" he suggested. Ledd and Kortz agreed and the four of them headed down the hall, with Kortz occasionally casting backward glances at Cressa.

* * *

They found the others in the back room again, sitting around the table and chatting. Merco, Cobal, and Nackle all looked up when they entered, their eyes immediately noticing Cressa's change in appearance. She felt the redness in her cheeks returning under their scrutiny.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Cobal asked with a mixture of surprise and amusement, but before she had a chance to answer, Merco spoke up for her.

"Didn't you hear? Stella tried to bury her alive by having her dig in the dry dirt. Apparently it ruined her old clothes," he explained.

Cressa nodded her acknowledgment before turning to Kortz, "Word sure travels fast around here," she said under her breath.

"Mogmas love to gossip," he told her with a smirk.

"But, don't you think she looks a bit on the naked side, ya know, without any fur?" Nackle added bluntly.

Cressa blushed at the comment then crossed her arms and stared up at Ledd with an angry scowl.

"What? I seriously don't think you look naked!" he defended.

"I think she looks great," Cobal said with a big smile.

"Ya see?" Ledd said. She rolled her eyes in response.

"So, what're you three up to?" Bronzi asked, changing the subject, to Cressa's relief.

"Oh you know, just getting caught up on the latest. Care to join?" Merco asked. They accepted his invitation by taking seats around the table. Cressa situated herself between Kortz and Bronzi.

"Anyway, so it's true that Stella tricked you into burying yourself?" Nackle asked. Cressa nodded shamefully. "Bet that was scary."

"It was completely terrifying, as a matter of fact," Cressa told him with an edge to her tone. "How am I ever going to get her off my back!" she moaned, resting her chin on the table in a dejected sort of way.

"Well, you could try showing her a little more attitude," Nackle suggested.

"Attitude?" Cressa asked.

"Yeah, from what I hear you act like a real push-over. If you had a little more backbone and stood up to her more, maybe she'd back off," Nackle added. Cressa frowned at the idea. If she tried to stand up too much and provoke Stella into a fight, she'd most likely get pulverized, which is exactly what Stella wants.

"Hey, hey, go easy would ya? It's not like Cressa doesn't feel bad enough already," Kortz defended.

"I'm just saying, a little attitude adjustment might do her some good. After all, she doesn't have to act like the little farm girl anymore." He then turned to Cressa. "If ya really wanna fit in here, you've gotta learn to act the part. No one else around here would take that kinda crap off her, and you shouldn't have to either." Nackle said sounding serious, and then gave her a smile.

Maybe he was right, she thought. She wasn't the simple farm girl anymore. She had been thrust into a new role, where she could be anyone she wanted. She didn't have to be submissive to those who sought to do her harm, maybe she _could_ learn to fight back. If she had any chance of surviving here, she had to learn to be strong! Kortz couldn't be there to protect her every second of the day. It was high time she learned to protect herself!

These kinds of thoughts began to stir new feelings inside her. New sensations that had lied dormant in her for years were suddenly resurging to the surface of her mind. She then realized with satisfaction that her Father, in fact, had indeed attempted to prepare her for such a situation.

When Cressa was younger, long before her baby brother had been born, her Father had attempted to teach her the arts of both sword play and archery. She had gone through the lessons to please him, but at the time, she had been more interested in playing with dolls than with arrows. Between her continued disinterest, and her Mother's less than approving attitude, her Father finally decided to stop the training. Still, the things she had learned then just might come in handy now, and Cressa now fully intended to harness those skills and practice what she had learned so long ago. You never know when such things might come in handy.

Just then, Cressa came back to attention, realizing with embarrassment that she had been completely zoned out. She looked around at the curious faces, and noticed Kortz was eyeing her with a slightly worried expression. The look she had been wearing suggested she was planning something fiendish.

"What were you thinking about just now?" he asked warily, hoping it wasn't something like 'revenge'.

"Oh, not to worry, I was just thinking that maybe Nackle has a point. I need to learn how to handle myself, that is, if I'm going to be expected to keep up with you guys!" she said, flashing Nackle a sly grin.

Kortz was shaking his head as he heard this, and then turned to Nackle. "Now look what you did," he said wearily which caused a laugh out of everyone.

"Speaking of keeping up with us," Bronzi said suddenly turning to Cobal. "Is it true what I hear, about you wanting to check out that temple on the edge of the forest?" he asked him.

Cobal grinned widely at him. "Yeah! I've heard lots of rumors lately, that the place is supposed to be loaded with treasure!" he said excitedly.

"It's also supposed to be cursed!" Bronzi added with a warning edge to his tone.

"You weren't thinking about going alone, were you?" Ledd asked him, his face full of concern.

"Of course not! That _would_ be stupid. Besides, I'm gonna need some help if the rumors are true. No way I'll be able to carry all that treasure by myself," said Cobal with a dreamy expression.

"You mean, you're going to go on a treasure hunt?" Cressa asked.

"That's right. One of the best things about being a Mogma – digging for treasure! Where do you think Kortz got all that stuff in his treasure room?"

"Well, I never really thought about it," Cressa confessed. She turned to Kortz for further explanation.

"All Mogmas love treasure," he told her matter-of-factly. "What can I say?" he shrugged.

"Yeah, but this treasure hunt is gonna have to wait until after the river trip," Ledd added.

"Oh, that's right! I forgot about the river trip," Cobal said with disappointment.

"Does that mean you don't want to go? I thought you always looked forward to it?" Ledd asked him.

"Yeah I still wanna go. It's just that trip takes almost three days! That much longer I'll have to wait before I can explore that temple," he complained.

"Three days longer you'll get to live," Bronzi told him slyly. Cobal flashed him an irritated look, and seemed as though he was trying to think up a retort, but Cressa cut him off before he had a chance to say anything.

"Would this be the same river that's a long way from the volcano where those flowers grow that you get the bath extract from?" she questioned innocently.

The others all turned and stared at her in surprise, as if they hadn't expected her to know something like that. Bronzi was the first to find his voice.

"Well, yeah, but how did you know that?" he asked, not attempting to hide his emotion. He sounded as if he were impressed.

Cressa crossed her arms and gave him a smug expression. "Wouldn't you like to know?" Instead of being offended, Bronzi grinned down at her with amusement.

"Ira told you, didn't she?" Kortz finally guessed.

"Of course, who else could I possibly have been talking to? Besides, I just got a bath, remember?"

"Figures," Nackle muttered.

"Why, what's wrong?" Cressa was now feeling a little concerned with the shift in attitude of the room.

"Well, it's sorta supposed to be a secret. Besides us, only Ira and a few of the other lady Mogmas know about it, but they have a bad habit of letting things like that slip," Kortz explained.

"Why is it a secret?" Cressa wanted to know.

"Cuz if everyone knew about it then everyone would wanna come, and it wouldn't be as fun anymore," Nackle whined.

"Not to mention everyone can't come. We can't just leave the camp completely empty," Bronzi pointed out.

"Well, first of all, Ira didn't tell me about this trip, she just told me about the bath extract because I asked, and second of all, what am I supposed to do for three days if you all leave?" Cressa looked up at Kortz with a worried expression.

"Oh, uh, I hadn't thought about that," Kortz said with a bit of embarrassment. "I'm not sure if Elder Guld will allow letting you go with. . ." He trailed off when Cressa's expression shifted from worried to utter despair – complete with giant, puppy-dog eyes. Kortz wasn't sure how to respond to it.

Bronzi chuckled. "Do you think her eyes could get any bigger?" he joked. "Don't worry, I'll talk to Guld. I'm sure I can talk him into it," he assured her.

"Really?!" Cressa said happily, her expression immediately shifting again. "But, how can you be so sure?" she added hesitantly.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because he's my Dad," Bronzi told her with a wink.

It was all Cressa could do to keep her jaw from hitting the table. "Wait, what? Are you serious?" she asked.

"Yeah, I know it's hard to believe, but it's true," Ledd assured her.

"So, does that mean you're going to be the next Elder?" she guessed.

"No, thank goodness, that's gonna be Silva's job," Ledd told her. Bronzi cast him an annoyed glare. Cressa looked to Kortz with a questioning gaze.

"Silva is Bronzi's older brother," he explained.

"Oh, right." She supposed that should have been obvious, however, part of her was still surprised at the fact that Bronzi was the son of the Mogma Elder. Despite that fact, she was feeling much more hopefully about her chances at going with them. It sounded like it would be fun, and she didn't want to miss out. Besides, she didn't even want to think about what could happen if they all left her here alone. . .

There was a long lull in the conversation, until finally Merco spoke up. "Okay, I'm bored! What do you guys wanna do?" he questioned the room.

They all thought for a moment, until Ledd's eyes fell on Cressa, and he grinned. His expression began to make her nervous.

"What?" she asked hesitantly.

"Well, I was just thinking, maybe you could sing for us?" he suggested.

"Yeah that's a great idea!" Bronzi chimed in before Cressa could respond. "Kortz always talked about how pretty you sing. It's the whole reason he brought you down here, after all." All eyes in the room fell on her, increasing her nervousness.

"Uhhh, not to be a downer, but, I think Kortz might have slightly exaggerated my talents," she confessed.

"What? No I didn't! You have a beautiful voice Cressa," Kortz smiled at her.

"Thanks, but I. . ." she trailed.

"What's the matter? You scared?" Nackle gave her a sly grin.

"No, I am not scared. It's just – I haven't actually _performed_ in front of anyone for a while. Not _knowingly_ anyway," she emphasized, looking up at Kortz. He guiltily adverted his gaze.

"So, when was the last time you performed?" Cobal asked.

"I think I was eight," she said.

"What did you sing?" he pressed.

Cressa frowned in concentration. "Let's see, I think it was 'The Lonely Goatherd'."

"Why don't you just sing that for us?" Cobal suggested.

"Well, I didn't sing it by myself," she said. "Besides, I don't think it's gonna sound very good A-cappella."

"A-ka-what-a?" Ledd asked.

"It means singing without any music," she explained.

"Sounds like you're just trying to avoid it," Nackle pointed out.

Cressa sighed. "Oh right, because I'm supposed to just sing on demand like a trained monkey!" She stood up on her stool, and clapped her hands together twice. "Sing for us monkey!" She joked, waving her hands around like a debutante. That caused everyone around her to laugh.

"That isn't what we meant," Kortz said through his chuckling.

"Even if she won't sing, she's at least entertaining," Merco added.

From her perch, Cressa thought about a way to make this work. If only she had an instrument of some kind. "Does anybody have a flute?" she asked. They pondered her question.

"I think I might have something like that," Kortz told her.

"Well then, let's go see. The rest of you meet us in that big meeting room," she instructed.

"Why there?" Bronzi asked her.

"Better acoustics!" she quipped. He didn't bother asking what 'acoustics' were.

* * *

A few minutes later, Cressa had them all gathered in the meeting room, and she was clutching an Ocarina in her hands. It hadn't exactly been what Cressa was expecting, but it should be the same basic concept as the other flutes she had learned on.

She began playing a few notes, testing her finger positions. She also noted how the sound echoed around the room. It was what she had been hoping for.

"_Do- Me- So- Do- Do- So- Re- Do,_" she sang. The Mogmas eyed each other.

"What are you doing?" Cobal asked her.

"Warming up." She said. "_Every truly cultured music student knows. You must sing your scales and your arpeggios._" she sang to them. Then she began to wander about the hall.

"_Yo-da-leh-hee-hoo_," she called several times around the room. Then she began to play, stopping to sing the parts where the words followed, and as she sang, the echo that her voice created sang with her.

(However, this is like a movie, so extend your disbelief! Just imagine that the music continues even when she's not actually playing. _Wink! Wink!_)

High on a hill was a lonely goatherd  
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo  
Loud was the voice of the lonely goatherd  
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

Folks in a town that was quite remote heard  
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo  
Lusty and clear from the goatherd's throat heard  
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

O ho lay dee odl lee o, o ho lay dee odl lay  
O ho lay dee odl lee o, lay dee odl lee o lay

A prince on the bridge of a castle moat heard  
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo  
Men on a road with a load to tote heard  
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

Men in the midst of a table d'hote heard  
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo  
Men drinking beer with the foam afloat heard  
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

(Music interlude)

One little girl in a pale pink coat heard  
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo  
She yodeled back to the lonely goatherd  
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

Soon her Mama with a gleaming gloat heard  
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo  
What a duet for a girl and goatherd  
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

(Music Interlude)

Ummm (ummm) . . .  
Odl lay ee (odl lay ee)  
Odl lay hee hee (odl lay hee hee)  
Odl lay ee  
. . . yodeling . . .

One little girl in a pale pink coat heard  
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hoo hoo  
She yodeled back to the lonely goatherd  
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

Soon her Mama with a gleaming gloat heard  
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hmm hmm  
What a duet for a girl and goatherd  
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

Happy are they lay dee olay dee lee o . . .  
. . . yodeling . . .  
Soon the duet will become a trio  
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

Odl lay ee, old lay ee  
Odl lay hee hee, odl lay ee  
Odl lay odl lay, odl lay odl lee, odl lay odl lee  
Odl lay odl lay odl lay!

When she had finished, she was pleased to see that her Mogma audience had enjoyed themselves. They were all grinning either at her or each other.

"That was pretty good girlie. Kortz was right, you were selling yourself short," Bronzi told her.

"Yeah, maybe, but you should have heard my parents sing it. They could make music like no one else in my village. After all, they're the ones who taught me to play and sing," Cressa said.

At the mention of her parents, the Mogmas suddenly got quite and started to shift uncomfortably. She half smiled when she realized what was happening. She was about to tell them that they didn't need to feel bad for her, when commotion at the room's entrance caught all their attention.

"What is all that racket?!" Stella shouted, marching angrily into the room. Surprisingly, Copra and Tiri weren't with her. Instead there was a collection of other curious Mogmas that Cressa didn't recognize, hanging around the entrance. They seemed to nervous to actually come in.

"You! I should have known it was you, human!" Stella yelled, continuing to march towards them. "There are Mogmas trying to relax before bed, and you're disturbing them with your horrible noise!"

"Oh yeah? I'll give you a horrible noise!" Cressa yelled back. Then she turned to her friends. "Cover your ears," she told them softly. As soon as Cressa took a deep breath and put her lips to the Ocarina, they had a pretty good idea of what was coming, so they all obeyed.

Cressa blew as hard as she could on the mouth piece, letting out an ear-shattering shriek from the instrument, made worse from the echoing of the room. Stella hollered in pain, covering her own ears and backing away as Cressa kept the note going as long as possible. Finally she had to take a breath, and everyone uncovered their ears.

Stella flashed her with a hateful snarl. "How dare you, you little demon!" she shrieked.

"That's for trying to bury me alive!" Cressa snapped back, fixing the young girl Mogma with hard glare of her own. "You hear me! I'm not going to take any more off of you!"

Stella looked a bit taken aback. "Are you going to let her talk to me like that?!" she demanded of the guys standing around Cressa. To her immense pleasure, and Stella's rage, most of them just adverted their gazes and said nothing.

"Are you kidding? We don't wanna get on her bad side," Ledd joked, indicating Cressa.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want to incite the wrath of the demon!" Cobal added. They grinned at each other.

Stella growled with fury, and not knowing what else to do, turned and angrily stalked off. The other Mogmas slowly filtering away as well.

"Whoa, if looks could kill!" Bronzi said with a grin.

Kortz looked proudly down at his charge. "Well, that was certainly impressive," he said. Cressa gave him a wide smile.

"See, now that's what I'm talking about! She'll think twice before she messes with you again," Nackle told her.

"I hope you're right," she said with a serious tone.

* * *

That night, Cressa lay awake in bed, thinking. She was staring off at, well, nothing, because it was too dark to see anything. She thought about the moon, and the stars, and realized that she was really missing the sky. Not that she wasn't happy with her new little group of friends, but, hopefully this river trip would mean that they could be above ground for a while. That is, if she hadn't jeopardized her chances of going after what had happened today. It made her wonder if Stella even knew about the river.

Kortz must have guessed that she wasn't sleeping, because after a while she heard his voice. "Cressa? Are you still awake?" he asked.

She hesitated a moment before answering, not sure if she wanted him to know that she was. "Yes," she finally said.

"What are you thinking about?"

"The sky," she told him honestly.

"Oh. . . Do you miss it?" Cressa thought she could hear a hit of sadness in his voice.

"Yeah, I miss the feeling of looking up at all the stars. They're so pretty," she sighed, trying to remember what a starry sky looked like. It hadn't been that long since she was first brought here, but for some reason it felt like forever since she'd seen stars.

"Would you go back, you know, if you could?"

Cressa could feel the subtle increase in tension in the room. It was as if Kortz was holding his breath, waiting to see how she would answer.

"Well, that depends," she said. He waited for her to continue, but she didn't.

"On what?" he pressed.

Cressa felt embarrassed about what she was thinking, but at the same time, she knew that if she told Kortz the truth it would make him happy.

"I suppose, it depends, on _you_," she confessed, feeling heat rushing up to her face. She was once again glad that he couldn't see her. However, she still began to ramble in an awkward way anyway!

"I wouldn't want to go back if you couldn't go with me. I'd miss you. I mean, because, we're friends now, right? And it's hard to say goodbye to your friends, at least that's what I've heard. Also compared to the others, you're the nicest to me, and I like you the best. So, I guess, that makes you my best friend and. . . I've never had a best friend before," she said, just realizing this fact as she spoke it. She'd never really had any friends before, actually. As far back as she could remember, her family had really been her only 'friends'. Now that she had real friends though, she could see that it really wasn't the same.

There was a long silence, until Cressa thought that maybe her rambling had put him to sleep!

"Kortz. . .?" she said into the darkness.

"Do you mean it?" he asked.

"What?" she asked. Not that she hadn't understood the question, but she didn't understand why he would ask that. Why would she make something like that up?

"Do you really mean that?" he asked again. This time Cressa could clearly hear the smile in his voice. She guessed that he was just making sure.

"Of course I mean it," she told him with a smile of her own. "Do you not believe me?"

"No, it's not that, I guess I just – well – I think, you're my best friend too," he said awkwardly.

Cressa sat up and stared at the direction that Kortz was in with a scrutinizing look. "I thought Bronzi was your best friend?" She asked incredulously.

"Oh, uh, well – he is – but I, I mean you—" he was stammering, trying to find a way out of the corner he'd talked himself into. Cressa started to laugh, not giving him a chance to finish.

"It's okay Kortz. It only makes sense that he's your best friend. I mean, you've known him a lot longer than you've known me." She justified for him.

"Yeah, I know, but – I just wanted you to know that you're special to me too," he explained.

Cressa smiled at that. "I know," she assured him. It was a hard fact to miss! "So speaking of which, if I'm really so special to you, then were you really gonna go on this three-day trip and leave me here by myself?" She scolded.

She could hear him take a deep sigh. "No, I wouldn't have left you. Truth is, I forgot all about the river trip!" He confessed in exasperation.

Cressa laughed again. "So, what will you do if I'm not allowed to go?"

"I'll stay here with you," he said.

Cressa frowned. "But, I don't want you to miss out just because of me. That wouldn't be fair," she reasoned.

"Yeah, okay, but we're all going, including Ira. What would you do for three days if I went with them?" he asked skeptically.

Cressa thought for a minute. "Oh, hide in here I suppose, and by the time you got back I probably would have starved to death," she teased.

"Well, we can't have that," he said with a chuckle. "But you don't have to worry. I'm sure Bronzi will get the okay for you to go," he assured her.

"Good! I can't wait," she said happily and laid back down.

"Then it's a good thing you won't have to wait long, because we leave in a few days," he told her.

"Really? That soon, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah, but I'm sure it will go by fast, especially if we're working the whole time," he suggested.

"Oh I suppose, I just hope there aren't any more 'incidents' involving me before then," she said worriedly, thinking that something like that could hurt her chances of going.

"Just make sure you stay close to me and there won't be," Kortz assured her.

Cressa rolled her eyes. "Oh brother."

**You know the drill - "No! Not the Drill!" - Read and Review! :P Pretty please.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys! First off I want to apologize for how long this chapter took. So it's extra long to make up for it. I guess I just got bogged down with, ya know, life! I got sick, lost my job, got better, then got a new job. Also I've had a lot of family stuff going on lately. So yeah, not that you all want to hear my life story or anything.**

**Anyway, this chapter is once again particularly Disney inspired. The song in this section is by Phil Collins and is produced by Phil Collins and Mark Mancina. So I hope you enjoy!  
**

Kortz was right, however. For the next few days Cressa just stuck close to his side, especially during work, and all the other Mogmas seemed to just leave her alone, including Stella. The days went by quickly and before she knew it, it was time to leave for the journey.

That morning, the warm glow of lamp light showing through her eyelids slowly roused Cressa. Her eyes fluttered open and she squinted in the light. After a moment, they adjusted and she could see Kortz mulling about the room. She could swear that she'd only been asleep for a few hours. There was no way it could be morning already!

Instead of getting up to greet him, Cressa remained propped on her stomach, watching him work. It went on like this for a few minutes until he finally noticed she was awake. He laughed when he saw her position. He crossed him arms.

"Well, good morning Cressa. You planning on getting up anytime soon, or would you rather stay here?" He asked with a sly grin.

She didn't even need to consider it. Cressa hopped out of the bed and stood at attention in front of him. "No I would not rather stay here! Do you know if Bronzi got permission for me to go?" she asked eagerly.

"We'll go find out, but first—" he rolled up her blanket and handed it to her. Then placed her digging mitts on top of it. "You might want to take these with you."

"But, what if I can't go?" she reasoned.

He smiled at her. "Will you stop worrying. I'm sure it will be fine. We haven't let you down yet, have we?"

"I haven't been here that long," she said the words before she realized how they sounded. Kortz just rolled his eyes.

"Will you just come on!" he said and pulled her out the door.

He continued to pull her along until they reached a part of the tunnels that Cressa thought she hadn't been to before, but it was hard to tell. She was focused on trying not to drop her bundle. There were already several Mogmas gathered, some of which she recognized. Bronzi was standing right in front of them, and she could see Merco and Nackle mingling on the other side of the group.

"Hey Bronzi, did you get the OK for Cressa?" Kortz asked him quietly.

Bronzi turned around when he heard Kortz address him. Cressa looked up at him with hopeful eyes. He smiled down at her. "Yeah, it's no problem. Dad says he thinks it's a good idea actually. He's worried about what could happen to her if we leave her here," he replied.

Cressa jumped in the air when she heard that, the bundle in her arms falling to the ground. "Yay! Thank you so much Bronzi!" she exclaimed excitedly and jumped at him. He looked surprised and on reflex caught her in the air. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he laughed, but tried to as quietly as possible.

"Shhhh, quiet! Do you wanna wake up the whole camp?" he scolded, but with a grin on his face. It was at that point that Cressa realized that all the Mogmas were speaking in hushed tones. Several turned and gave her disapproving looks.

"Oops, sorry," she whispered hoarsely. "Why isn't anyone else up?" she asked as Bronzi set her back down.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" he inquired.

"No," she stated flatly. "I can't tell anything down here. Kortz just tells me when to go to bed and when to get up. I've just been taking his word for it," she confessed. "I don't understand how you guys know!"

He shrugged. "Instinct I guess."

"Yo," Ira quietly got their attention and they all turned. "Cressa, this is for you," she said, and handed Cressa a mostly-empty pack.

"What's this for?" she asked curiously.

"What's if for?! For carrying supplies of course! Why do you think we take all these young boys with us in the first place? It's not just so they can goof off, I can assure you of that," she huffed. "Didn't Kortz explain any of this?"

"Well. . ." Cressa looked up at Kortz who grinned sheepishly. They had been busy talking about other things. "No," she confessed.

"Oh well, I supposed he can fill you in on the way," Ira sighed and began handing out little satchels to the other Mogmas.

"It's not that complicated," he told her when Ira left. "The point of this trip is to gather supplies that we're running low on. There are some things like the bath flower that only grow along the river. Ira and the other care-takers like to have us come along to help carry stuff back," he indicated himself and Bronzi.

While he was talking, Cressa open up the pack and began studying it's contents. There was already a little satchel in there for her, and a few bottles. One had water and the rest were empty. Cressa pulled out the little bag and opened it to find it was full of nuts and dried berries. She looked up at Kortz for an explanation.

"Breakfast," he explained, popping a nut into his mouth. Oh of course, Ira wasn't going to have time to cook. She set the satchel down and picked up the blanket she had dropped and stuffed it into the pack, and then attempted to figure out how to put the pack on. Kortz saw her fumbling with it.

"Here Cressa, let me help," he said, taking the pack from her. "It attaches to your harness, like this," he explained, showing her how to latch it on. Once that was secure, she put on her digging mitts, picked up her food pouch, and began munching on it with the others.

"Alright folks, if we're all ready we can head—"

Suddenly, there was a commotion down the hall, and Ledd and Cobal came sprinting around the corner. They were panting heavily. Ira flashed them a hard look.

"Well, glad you two could join us," she lectured. They both stared at the ground shamefully.

"Sorry Ira, we accidentally overslept a little," Cobal explained.

"Any more and we would have left without you!" she lectured, then handed them their own food pouches. "Here, you'll have to eat this on the go," she told them.

After they took the food, Ledd looked up and noticed Cressa standing next to Kortz. He gave her a big smile and waved. She smiled and waved back.

"Now, if everyone is here, let us be off!" Ira announced and they all began to shuffle along down a branching tunnel.

After a few minutes of wandering, Cressa began to worry that maybe they _were_ going to make this entire trip underground. At the same time, however, she had a hard time believing that the Mogma's had a tunnel that stretched that far. She was about to voice this concern to Kortz when the group suddenly came to a stop at a dead end.

"Alright everyone, end of the road. Time to surface," Ira told them all. She dug herself a hole in the dirt ceiling until she hit the surface. Sunlight streamed into the tunnel, and she moved aside while she escorted the other Mogmas in the group out the hole one at a time.

Sunlight! Real sunlight! Cressa never thought it could be so beautiful! The sight of it made her think that she might just cry. She scrambled out the hole when her turn came as fast as she could. Almost stepping on Kortz in the process.

"She's not eager or anything," Bronzi joked.

"Well, she did tell me that she was missing the sky," Kortz confessed.

Once on the surface, it was all Cressa could seem to look at. She had forgotten how big it was. It was bright blue dotted with white puffy clouds. She stood with her eyes craned upwards for several long minutes. The sun in her hair, the wind on her face. . . it was wonderful!

"Uh Cressa-" Kortz's voice snapped her out of her trance. She looked around to find that the group was heading off without her.

"Oh sorry!" she exclaimed and ran after them to catch up.

After several hours of walking, Cressa could tell that the guys were getting restless, and tired. Especially because a few of them had started complaining. Now that she thought about it, her feet were beginning to hurt too, but Cressa didn't mind, she was just happy to be out in the open even if the scenery was a bit, lacking. There seemed to be nothing but grassland for miles, with only the mountains on their left to break it up.

"Ugh! This is so boring! Ira, can't we take a break?" Nackle complained loudly enough so that Ira could hear him at the front of the group.

"Don't you start with me young man. You know very well the answer to that question. We will take a break when we get to the falls," Ira assured him.

Nackle then grumbled something under his breath that Cressa couldn't make out. He looked really grumpy.

"We're going to be taking a break at a waterfall? But won't that mean we've reached the river?" Cressa asked Kortz.

"Yes and no," he told her. "It's where the river ends, but where we want to go is up along it. So to get there we need to go up and around," he explained. She nodded that she understood.

After another few minutes, Cressa glanced over to see that Nackle still look rather sore about being reprimanded.

"Is he gonna be okay?" she asked.

"Oh don't mind him. He get this way a lot when he's bored," Bronzi told her. "He'll snap out of it eventually."

Cressa still flashed him a concerned glance. Then she cocked her head in thought. Maybe there was some way she could alleviate his boredom. She thought back to several days ago when she had sung for them. They had seemed to enjoy it. She grinned as she thought of the perfect song and began to hum to find her key, marching along as she sang—

Tell everybody I'm on my way  
New friends and new places to see  
With blue skies ahead yes  
I'm on my way  
And there's nowhere else  
that I'd rather be.

Tell everybody I'm on my way  
And I'm loving every step I take  
With the sun beating down yes  
I'm on my way  
And I can't keep this smile off my face.

'Cause there's nothing like seeing  
each other again  
No matter what the distance between  
And the stories that we tell  
will make you smile  
Oh it really lifts my heart.

So tell 'em all I'm on my way  
New friends and new places to see  
And to sleep under the stars  
Who could ask for more  
With the moon keeping watch over me.

Not the snow, not the rain  
Can change my mind  
The sun will come out, wait and see  
And the feeling of the wind in your face  
Can lift your heart  
Oh there's nowhere I would rather be.

'Cause I'm on my way now-  
well and truly  
I'm on my way now.

As she was singing the other Mogmas glanced around at her, not really sure what to make of it. Her friends were looking down and grinning at her though. It even put a smile on Nackle's face. It made the trip seem like it was going faster and the walking a little easier. Cressa had always felt like music gave her more energy when she was feeling drained.

Tell everybody I'm on my way  
And I just can't wait to be there  
With blue skies ahead yes  
I'm on my way  
And nothing but good times to share.

So tell everybody I'm on my way  
And I just can't wait to be home  
With the sun beating down yes  
I'm on my way  
And nothing but good times to show  
I'm on my way.

Yes, I'm on my way.

And just like that, before they knew it, they had arrived at the waterfall.

"Alright, we'll rest here for a little while, and everyone remember to refill your bottles with water," Ira told everyone.

All the Mogmas then began to unbuckle their packs and sit down in groups around the lake. The few young ones who had come with them began to play in the grass. Cressa followed suit, but then wandered over to the edge of the lake to peer up at the cliff of cascading water. She could see why Kortz told her they had to go around. The cliff edge reached up extremely high and was at a 90 degree angle. Her gaze then drifted down to the pool of water below. It looked so clean and clear and inviting that Cressa couldn't help but be suddenly struck with the desire to go for a swim.

"Yo, who wants to go swimming?" she suggested to the group, pointing at the water.

Her traditional Mogma greeting got them all grinning, but then Bronzi shook his head. "Mogma's don't swim," he told her flatly.

"What do you mean you don't swim?" she asked.

"What he means is – that Mogma's _can't_ swim," Kortz clarified.

Cressa stared at them with a dumbfounded expression. "You guys don't know how to swim?"

"Hey, we live underground remember? Not much use for knowing how to swim," Cobal argued, sounding a bit put off by her accusation.

"I could teach you, if you'd like," Cressa told them, a sly grin creeping across her face. It kinda felt good, because for once she knew how to do something that they didn't.

"Yeah right? You trying to get us to drown?" Nackle accused.

Cressa just shrugged. "Fine, suit yourselves." She then sauntered over to a large outcropping of rock nearby that hung over the lake like a diving board. She was very aware that they were all watching her. She climbed onto it and walked out towards the edge.

"You'd better be careful, Cressa. If you fall I'm not coming in after you," she heard Kortz warning her. She turned to see that he had come closer to the water's edge. He looked nervous. Which gave Cressa a wicked idea. She backed up until she was right on the rock edge.

"What do you mean? I'm not the one who can't—" at this point, Cressa pretended to slip. She let out a cry and fell backwards into the water, disappearing underneath the surface.

As soon as he saw her fall, Kortz ran as close as he could to the edge of the water without actually getting wet. "Cressa. Cressa!" he called out in a panic-stricken voice, frantically glancing out over the water. Both Ledd and Bronzi ran over to join him.

After a moment, Cressa surfaced, taking in a big gulp of air and shaking the hair out of her eyes. She laughed when she saw their expressions of distress.

"Awww, were you guys worried?" she asked in a slight baby voice, treading water to keep herself afloat. Bronzi grinned and shook his head at her antics and Ledd just smiled. However, Kortz did not seem amused. He fixed her with a hard expression.

"Cressa!" he shouted, sounding almost angry, but then crossed his arms and turned away from her. "That wasn't funny," he said softer.

She swam closer to them. "Oh come on. Being friends with Bronzi, I figured you of all people could take a joke," she splashed at them, to which they all hopped backwards to avoid getting wet.

"You getting hurt isn't a joke," he lectured seriously. Cressa's expression shifted to looking serious as well at the sound of his tone, and they just stared at each other for a long moment.

Just then, Merco came over to talk to them. "Hey guys, Ira says that the break is over. It's time to get ready to leave," he told them.

Cressa got out of the water and walked past Kortz to get her pack, purposely not making eye contact. Because now she felt a twinge of guilt that her prank had upset him so much.

Soon afterwards, they were all back on the road again, heading uphill to get to the edge of the river.

"How much longer until we get there?" Cressa asked no one in particular.

"It's not too much longer now. We're almost there," Bronzi answered for her.

And Bronzi was right. After only another two or so hours of mostly silent walking, the hill they were climbing eventually leveled out into a plateau with a large, rushing river cutting through the middle of it. It was coming on evening by this time, and the sun was starting to grow as it set and cast the sky in a bright orange.

"Alright Mogmas, time to set up camp. I don't need to remind you all that we have a long day of work ahead of us tomorrow. So after dinner everyone try to get to sleep early," Ira announced.

The Mogmas instantly began to busy themselves by digging burrows to sleep in for the night. Ira passed around more travel food for everyone, and before she knew it most of them had disappeared, buried and ready for bed.

Cressa, on the other hand, spent the remainder of the daylight hours collecting kindling and larger logs of wood for a fire. She set up a fire ring on the edge of the "camp" and set to work. She hadn't made fire very often before, but she'd seen her mother do it dozens of times. She grabbed some of the bark off one of the logs and laid some dried grass on top of it. Then took a skinny stick and twirled it between her hands against the bark on top of where she'd put the grass. Soon the grass started to smoke and eventually caught fire. She added kindling and logs to it and had a roaring blaze going in no time. Which was good, because by then it had gotten dark and now was much colder than it had been before.

She hadn't noticed it this time, but the guys had been watching her, wondering what she was doing. Once she was nestled snugly in front of the fire they came over and gathered around it as well. Kortz took a seat right next to her.

"So, let me guess. You're planning on sleeping up here tonight, aren't you?" he asked. Cressa nodded and glanced up at the sky. It was brilliantly lit with more stars then she could ever count. The sight made her smile and she sighed happily.

"What? Is that why you made this fire? You're gonna sleep up here in the cold where you're all exposed?" Merco asked with extreme skepticism.

"Yes, I don't want to sleep underground if I don't have to." No, she definitely didn't want to be underground, not tonight.

"You ain't afraid of getting eaten by some monster in the night?" Nackle teased deviously. Cressa glanced around at the peaceful setting they were currently in. She didn't think there could be any monsters lurking in the dark.

"No, why? Are you?" she shot back at him. He looked a bit startled by her question.

"Hey, I ain't afraid uh nothing!" he argued.

"Mmmmm hmmmm," Cressa faked skeptically to see what he would do.

"I just find sleeping underground is more comfortable, is all," he tried to reason, crossing his arms and turning away. "Besides, s'not like you slept out in the open back in that human place o' yours."

"That's true! What was it like, living above ground where you came from?" Cobal suddenly chimed in with enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I was wondering about that too," Ledd added, both of them peering at her with a keen interest.

"Uh – um – you – you guys don't _really_ want to hear about that, do you?" Cressa said, sounding a bit flustered. "I mean, it's not nearly as exciting as Mogma life," she reasoned.

"Right, cuz Mogma life is _so_ exciting," Bronzi said, his tone thick with sarcasm.

"Well, it is for me anyway. . ." she trailed.

"Cressa, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Kortz assured her. Thinking that such a subject could upset her.

"No, it's okay. I can tell you guys if you _really _want to know. Well," Cressa thought about it. "it's not really all that different from how Mogmas live, actually. People all had different jobs they did to benefit our village. I'd do chores, spending time with my family, listen to stories. . ." she paused, trying to think of any differences. "The only thing that was different is that we lived in houses. Oh, but one other thing I've noticed, is that Mogma life is much more – communal," she admitted.

"What do you mean, more communal?" Bronzi asked.

"Like, you seem to do everything as if it's all one giant family, instead of how I used to live. In the village we had lots of small separate families, working apart, eating apart, and living apart," she explained.

"That's because we are all family," Ledd told her.

"You mean, you didn't eat with the other people in the village? You didn't do anything?" Cobal questioned in surprise.

"Well, it's not like we never interacted with the other people of the village. But there would be days when I wouldn't see anyone else but my family. Where I come from, your family consists of your parents and your brothers and sisters, and maybe your grandparents if they were still alive. I mean, we'd have cousins and stuff too, but I didn't seem them all that often. In fact, probably some lived in other villages. So you see, not everyone in my village was technically family."

"That's weird," Cobal muttered.

"Totally," Merco added.

Cressa shrugged. "That's just how it was, but it's not like that here. My mother used to tell me an old saying, 'that it takes a village to raise a child', but in your guy's case it actually seems to be true," she observed.

"How so?" Kortz asked her.

"Because, for example, the few young ones that came with us on this trip. I have no idea which Mogma's are actually their parents. They seem to all be watching them together, as a group," she pointed out.

"Yeah, so Mogmas all help watch after the kids. What's so weird about that?" Bronzi asked.

"That's not how it was where I came from. Parents just all watched after their own kids, and usually didn't like others," Cressa chuckled at the thought.

"Really? I can't image what that would be like growing up. Not being able to go to just anyone if you needed help, or were hungry, or something," Ledd commented.

"Yeah, to only be able to rely on your own parents, because nobody else cared? Sounds kinda sad to me," Cobal agreed.

"Do you, still think like that?" Kortz asked her.

Cressa just laughed. "Well, most of the tribe really doesn't like me, or just flat out hates me. So I guess when you get right down to it, all I really have to rely on is you guys," Cressa told him with a smile. "Except for maybe Nackle," she added sourly.

"Hey!" he protested which caused everyone else to laugh. "Aw, forget you guys! I'm going to bed," he said stiffly and wandered off into the darkness.

"Yeah, I'm getting pretty tired myself, plus we have a long day tomorrow. See ya'll in the morning," Merco told them before following Nackle.

"They're probably right, we should be getting to sleep," Kortz mentioned.

"Yeah," said Cobal.

"Sure," Ledd added, and they both got up and left.

"Now, you two love birds don't stay up too late, okay?" Bronzi joked before he too left to go to bed.

Kortz groaned and covered his face with a paw, clearly embarrassed by the comment. Cressa just smiled before looking back up at the star filled sky. There was a long moment of silence.

"Aren't you going to go with them?" she finally asked.

Kortz turned to her, then shifted his gaze towards where his friends had gone, then looked back at Cressa.

"But, I don't want to leave you out here by yourself," he confessed.

"I'll be fine. You go and get some sleep," she reassured him. Although it didn't really seem to work.

"I— I'm not going to be able to sleep, knowing your out here. . ." he trailed off.

"You're really that worried about me?" she asked.

"Well – I – yeah," he admitted.

"Do you really want me to come to your burrow with you?" she guessed.

"No, that's alright. I mean, I know how important this is to you," he then joined Cressa by turning his gaze towards the stars.

"It is, kinda pretty I suppose," he told her.

"Glad you think so." Cressa scooted closer and leaned against him, liking the feeling of his soft fir.

Kortz blushed and smiled down at her, thinking that maybe sleeping out in the open might not be so bad after all.

* * *

The next morning Cressa could actually tell it was morning. The sky was beginning to change from complete blackness to a dark blue. She pushed herself up from the pile of Kortz fir to get a better look at the shifting skyline.

After a few minutes, Cressa noticed the distinctive sound of someone coming up behind her, who she assumed was probably Kortz. She turned to see him stumbling sleepily towards her and smiled in spite of herself. She was getting better at paying attention to sounds.

"What-cha doing?" he asked with a large yawn.

"Watching the sunrise. Have you ever seen a sunrise?" she asked as he plopped down next to her, obviously not seeming too impressed with the idea.

"No, we don't usually pay attention to these kinds of things," he said, yawning again. Cressa rolled her eyes. Being used to getting up before dawn every morning, she'd seen hundreds of sunrises in her life, and yet she never seemed to grow tired of watching them. No two were alike, after all.

Cressa glanced over at the area where the Mogma's had dug their burrows from the night before. It seemed like no one was even starting to stir yet. It made her wonder if maybe Mogma's usually got up for the day after the sun was already up. She had no way of knowing since it was impossible to tell underground, but the way Kortz was acting all sleepy-like made her think that must be the case.

When the sun started to finally peak up over the horizon, it lit the sky in such a brilliant orange that it even seemed to catch Kortz's attention. After another minute it seemed to get too bright for him and he had to shield his eyes.

"Wow, I think I like the sunrise even better than stars," he admitted.

It wasn't too much later when the Mogmas finally started to emerge from their burrows and busy themselves with getting ready for the day.

"Well, it's good to see that you two are still alive. I thought you'd get eaten for sure!" Cobal told them as Kortz and Cressa wandered over to meet the others.

Cressa gave him an incredulous look and shook her head. "Eaten by what?" she asked.

"Oh, don't listen to him. We wouldn't come here if there was anything dangerous around this place," Ledd assured her.

"Right," she replied.

She spent the morning helping Ira gather up food and prepare breakfast before they set to work for the day. Ira went around giving each Mogma specific tasks of what to look for and gather, until she finally got to Cressa.

"So dearie, I'd like you to walk along the bank of the river and look for the bath flowers," she told her, as Cressa followed her towards the river. She pointed to a large, purple looking daisy with a huge yellow center growing out of a cluster of rocks right next to the water. "Do your best to pull up the root along with the stem, because we use both parts," she explained.

Cressa nodded. It was a simple enough task. She started at the flower that Ira had indicated and began making her way down river. She soon found that only one flower seemed to grow every few yards long the bank of the river, and as she was gathering them up, it was taking her father and father away from the main group. They were dispersing around themselves, but not to quite the distance that Cressa was going.

She hopped up onto a large rock and peered back at where she had come. She was so far out that she almost couldn't see them anymore. She was considering whether to keep going for a little longer or to head back in the other direction, when she suddenly heard a terrified shriek cut through the peaceful silence, followed by lots of confused yelling.

Wondering what was going on, Cressa jumped down from the boulder and took off back towards the Mogmas. She noticed that they seemed to be heading in her direction in a hurry. There was more unintelligible yelling until Cressa distinctly heard –

"Someone do something, quick! My baby is going to drown!" When Cressa heard that she made a sharp turn towards the bank and frantically began scanning the water. That's when she saw him. One of the young Mogmas was flailing around in the river, furiously attempting to stay afloat while being swept away by the powerful current.

Cressa knew she had to do something quick, or he wasn't going to make it! She threw down her pack and whipped off her skirt before diving headfirst into the rushing water. When she surfaced, she began swimming upstream, fighting the current in order to reach the Mogma kid who was quickly floating towards her.

She was hoping that when he reached her, she could grab a hold of him with one hand and then work her way back towards the shore. That, however, is _not_ what happened. As soon as the little Mogma felt something remotely stable, he latched himself onto her and in his blind panic was pushing her under the water in a desperate attempt to keep his own head above the surface.

Cressa's new objective was now trying to get away from him! She tried shouting to him to calm down, but she couldn't keep her head above the water long enough. She spluttered and strained, trying to get away, but even at his age he was too strong! She knew he had to stop panicking or he would end up killing them both, but there didn't seem to be any way out!

Cressa could feel her lungs burning and her eyes were staring to grow hazy from lack of air. Her strength was about spent, and her body went slack. She was sinking. She thought that this was it. There was no one who could save her this time. She had given her life trying to save a member of a race that all but hated her guts, she thought bitterly.

Her last thoughts turned to Kortz, how sad he would be when he learned she had drowned? Hopefully he would take solace in the fact that she lost her life in a attempt to help another of his kind. At least – at least she would be reunited with her family again, soon . . .

Suddenly, before she completely blacked out, something caught the attention of her hazy vision. It was darker in the river than it had been before, and then it got light again just as quickly, as if something had passed over the sun. That's when she glanced up and saw it! A large log was floating down the river's surface just over head, quite near to where the young Mogma's now still body floated.

Her muddled mind realized that, that log was their only potential salvation! If only she had enough strength left to reach it. With one final surge of desperate energy, Cressa kicked off the bottom of the river bed, swimming as hard as she could once she reached the young Mogma. And with one last push, broke through the surface of the water and onto the floating log.

She coughed up a lung-full of water and gasped gratefully at the sweet feeling of air, gulping huge chest fulls in between fits of coughing. Once she had gained a little bit of breath, she pushed against the log, swimming as hard as could muster to get to shore. She knew they weren't out of the woods yet. She had to get that little Mogma breathing again!

Once they hit the shoreline, she stumbled onto solid ground, dragging the unconscious Mogma to a flat surface. He wasn't breathing! She knew she had to get air into him somehow, and fast! But the way the Mogma mouths were shaped, she wasn't sure how to force air through it. That was when it hit her to clamp her hands around his muzzle and blow in through his nose. She saw his chest rise slightly. She did it two more times, then began to to push down on his torso. She wasn't really sure what she was doing. She just hoped she could get the water out and get him breathing again!

Luckily, something she did must have worked, because the little guy suddenly came sputtering back to life. She helped prop him up as he coughed up mouth fulls of water, gasping for air much like she had. With the bulk of danger looking like it was out of the way, they both collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, shivering from trauma and cold.

At that moment, a large group of Mogmas suddenly surrounded them. Cressa turned her head to see, who she assumed must be the kid's mother, scoop him up in her arms and squeeze him to her chest.

"My baby! Oh my baby! I'm so glad you're alright. You're not in pain, are you?" she rambled on.

"No mom, I'm fine," he tried to assure her through the wailing and the squeezing.

Kortz's worried face suddenly appeared over her head. She smiled up at him.

"Cressa! Are you alright?!" he all but demanded.

"Yeah, just a little tired," she huffed out. When he heard that, he then proceeded to pluck her up off the ground by her arms, holding her up so that she was eye level with him.

"Well then, in that case, could you kindly, PLEASE STOP DOING THAT!" he lectured at her sounding almost angry and shaking her slightly as he said it, as if that would help get his message across better.

Cressa just smiled at him as he continued. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack? I swear, you're going to be the death of me! You realize that right?"

"I'm sorry, Kortz, but, I couldn't just do nothing. . ." she trailed off, peering over his shoulder at the still fussing mother Mogma.

"No, you're right," he sighed, pulling her into an embrace. I just wish you wouldn't cut it so close. When you both went under and weren't coming back up, I. . . well, I guess it all turned out alright," he finished.

"Well, you know, you could give me a little more credit," she pointed out quietly, returning the hug. She felt him smile.

"Hey girlie! I though we'd gotten over this whole, 'you having a death wish' thing?" Bronzi's voice suddenly interrupted the moment they were having. Ledd and Cobal were right on his heels.

Kortz quickly pulled her away from him and set her down on her feet, her knees buckling slightly before she was able to gain her footing.

"It's not like I'm doing it on purpose," she protested.

"Are you alright?" Ledd asked with concern. "We were worried that you weren't going to come back up."

"For a minute there, I didn't think I was going to either. Lucky for us that log floated by when it did," she confessed.

"That was a nice save though. Good thing you can swim!" Cobal added.

"I guess we _should_ be grateful that human can swim," they all heard the mother Mogma say. Cressa peered around Kortz to see her addressing the others.

Then something surprising happened. The little one she had saved flashed his mother a hard look. "She has a name, mom!" he lectured then walked over to Cressa. "Thank you for saving me. My name's Tyto, what's yours?" he asked expectantly.

"I'm Cressa, and you're very welcome. I'm just glad that you're okay," she told him.

"Me too! We can be friends from now on if you like," he suggested cheerily, reaching a hand out to her.

"Uh, sure," she said hesitantly, taking his hand for a moment.

At that point, his mother decided to step up to Cressa as well. She shrank back a little, not really sure what was going to happen.

"Tyto you're right," she admitted. "Thank you, Cressa, for saving my son. I don't think I can express how grateful I am you put your own life on the line to save his. I can see now that the others are wrong about you. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been here. If there's anything I can do to repay you—"

Cressa just smiled and shook her head. "No, that's alright. I'm just glad that everyone is okay," she reassured her.

"Well, if any of the others try to be mean to you, you just let me know, and I'll take care of it," Tyto boasted, puffing out his chest to look tougher.

"I'll be sure and do that," Cressa humored him before his mother led him away.

She turned back to her friends. They were all grinning at her.

"What?" she asked hesitantly.

"Wow, that was big. I think you just scored major brownie points with all the Mogma moms," Bronzi explained.

"Really?" she asked.

"Well, yeah! You just saved a kid from drowning. That's bound to turn some heads," Cobal reasoned.

"This could really turn your reputation around," Ledd added.

"I'm so proud of you, Cressa," Kortz beamed down at her. "But from now on, let's try to fix your reputation in less life-threatening ways."

"I'll see what I can do," she assured him. She had to wonder though, could this really affect how the other Mogma's treated her? She supposed that they would have to wait until they returned to find out.

**Please let me know what you think! :)**


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